Comment: The majority of Ecuadorians live above 8000 feet, hardly a tropical environment. I'm curious as to what pathogens exist there. It wouldn't seem reasonable to include Ecuador in a list of tropical environments.
Comment: The majority of Ecuadorians live above 8000 feet, hardly a tropical environment. I'm curious as to what pathogens exist there. It wouldn't seem reasonable to include Ecuador in a list of tropical environments.
Comment: After reading some of the comments here, I am reminded that conformity is a trait found in abundance in all societies, although perhaps not in equal amounts. Readers ask if this article explains why northerners do not like southerners. No, quite the opposite. If northerners were truly tolerant of differences, they would not have any problems with southern cultures. So why do northerners have genes for xenophobia? Perhaps because all groups on earth have experienced aggression from strangers, and, at some time or other, have practiced aggression against strangers. Disease is dangerous, but spears and swords are deadly, too. There are differences between groups, but we have all learned the same lessons to one degree or another. P.S. Regarding ethanol, why do we use corn to make it? Why not use corn for food, and use switchgrass for ethanol?
Comment: After reading some of the comments here, I am reminded that conformity is a trait found in abundance in all societies, although perhaps not in equal amounts. Readers ask if this article explains why northerners do not like southerners. No, quite the opposite. If northerners were truly tolerant of differences, they would not have any problems with southern cultures. So why do northerners have genes for xenophobia? Perhaps because all groups on earth have experienced aggression from strangers, and, at some time or other, have practiced aggression against strangers. Disease is dangerous, but spears and swords are deadly, too. There are differences between groups, but we have all learned the same lessons to one degree or another. P.S. Regarding ethanol, why do we use corn to make it? Why not use corn for food, and use switchgrass for ethanol?
Comment: Sharon Begley seems to be: on the payroll of masters at war with the USA, and seems willing to be a traitor, like Tokyo Rose; or beyond clueless. That analysis is based on previous Sharon Begamy post.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel post.
Begley, you need to say you made a mistake
Comment: getzel @ 04/10/2008 8:38:00 AM
Comment: Start by ditching corn ethanol.
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Apr 14, 2008 Issue
Posted By: Ian K @ 04/09/2008 9:09:32 PM
Comment: Fire the fact-checkers! In what alternative universe does Sharon Begley live
Mommymarge @ 04/10/2008 12:48:49 AM
Comment: I live buy an ethonal plant ??????supporting farmers
Harbinger32 @ 04/09/2008 6:45:25 PM
Comment: On the subject... do a little research
ecofriendly @ 04/08/2008 5:36:42 PM
Comment: This is a horrible article.
StarReader @ 04/08/2008 4:50:43 PM
Comment: Did the author read what she wrote?
Judy Judy @ 04/08/2008 3:42:24 PM
Comment: Oh, yes... let's have the government fix the problem!
getzel @ 04/09/2008 10:18:57 PM
Comment: Sharon Begley is an oil company representative, and an outright traitor to the USA.
I built a distillery and converted my GM car to run on 160 proof ethanol by 1982.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas stations in Brazil can fill the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
We can see how clean ethanol burns real easy. If one were to fill one thimble with ethanol and one thimble with gasoline and light a match to each the gasoline billows smoke, with the ethanol the barely visible light blue flame can barely be seen. What you see is what did not burn: the pollution. This is before any polution equipment is added to clean what little pollution there is. There is more pollution in the Bigley, traitor that she is, article than in ethanol.
Gasoline is one of the most toxic substances known to be available. Ethanol is what you drink in beer. One drop of gasoline on your skin causes cancer, one drop condensed in your lungs and you die on the spot from chemical pneumonia.Just Google it.
The molecular structure of gasoline contains tons more carbon than the same quantity of ethanol. Just Google it.
Ethanol can not create Exxon Valdez disasters to the environment because it is not toxic.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
Comment: After reading some of the comments here, I am reminded that conformity is a trait found in abundance in all societies, although not in equal amounts. Readers ask if this article explains why northerners don???t like southerners. No, quite the opposite. If northerners were truly tolerant of differences, they would not have any problems with southern cultures. So why do northerners have genes for xenophobia? Perhaps because all groups on earth have experienced aggression from strangers, and, at some time or other, have practiced aggression against strangers. Disease is dangerous, but spears and swords are deadly, too. There are differences between groups, but we???ve all learned the same lessons to one degree or another.
Comment:
After reading some of the comments here, I am reminded that conformity is a trait found in abundance in all societies, although not in equal amounts. Readers ask if this article explains why northerners don???t like southerners. No, quite the opposite. If northerners were truly tolerant of differences, they would not have any problems with southern cultures. So why do northerners have genes for xenophobia? Perhaps because all groups on earth have experienced aggression from strangers, and, at some time or other, have practiced aggression against strangers. Disease is dangerous, but spears and swords are deadly, too. There are differences between groups, but we???ve all learned the same lessons to one degree or another.
Comment: Have we all forgotten that Correlation does not imply causation? There is no presented evidence in this article that would suggest any causal relationships between pathogens and societal tendencies. This is the type of mistake of faulty reasoning I would expect from a high school student not Newsweek magazine.
Comment: Kuma has a good point. Is that why perhaps many "Americans" shun Latinos who stick close to their families and people who speak their own language and share their own customs?
Comment: This research has me asking myself several intriguing questions. When a group of humans from a warm climate relocate to a cool climate, how does their natural desire to stay in their own group arouse the hostility of the cool climate humans whose natural desire it is to intermingle?
For example, did this unconscious behavior help to fan the flames of hatred toward the Jews after they relocated to the cool northern climates?
Or for example, did the African American's unconscious desire to stay within their group just fan the flames of "separate but equal" attitudes the past?
Or for example, are the hatreds in the Middle East (and around the globe near the equator) between different groups really just Nature trying to keep pathogens from one group from getting into another group?
Comment: getzel @ 04/10/2008 8:38:00 AM
Comment: Start by ditching corn ethanol.
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Apr 14, 2008 Issue
Posted By: Ian K @ 04/09/2008 9:09:32 PM
Comment: Fire the fact-checkers! In what alternative universe does Sharon Begley live
Mommymarge @ 04/10/2008 12:48:49 AM
Comment: I live buy an ethonal plant ??????supporting farmers
Harbinger32 @ 04/09/2008 6:45:25 PM
Comment: On the subject... do a little research
ecofriendly @ 04/08/2008 5:36:42 PM
Comment: This is a horrible article.
StarReader @ 04/08/2008 4:50:43 PM
Comment: Did the author read what she wrote?
Judy Judy @ 04/08/2008 3:42:24 PM
Comment: Oh, yes... let's have the government fix the problem!
getzel @ 04/09/2008 10:18:57 PM
Comment: Sharon Begley is an oil company representative, and an outright traitor to the USA.
I built a distillery and converted my GM car to run on 160 proof ethanol by 1982.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas stations in Brazil can fill the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
We can see how clean ethanol burns real easy. If one were to fill one thimble with ethanol and one thimble with gasoline and light a match to each the gasoline billows smoke, with the ethanol the barely visible light blue flame can barely be seen. What you see is what did not burn: the pollution. This is before any polution equipment is added to clean what little pollution there is. There is more pollution in the Bigley, traitor that she is, article than in ethanol.
Gasoline is one of the most toxic substances known to be available. Ethanol is what you drink in beer. One drop of gasoline on your skin causes cancer, one drop condensed in your lungs and you die on the spot from chemical pneumonia.Just Google it.
The molecular structure of gasoline contains tons more carbon than the same quantity of ethanol. Just Google it.
Ethanol can not create Exxon Valdez disasters to the environment because it is not toxic.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
Comment: Sharon Begley seems to be: on the payroll of masters at war with the USA, and seems willing to be a traitor, like Tokyo Rose; or beyond clueless. That analysis is based on previous Sharon Begamy post.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel post.
Begley, you need to say you made a mistake
Comment: I think the author may downplay the possible role of genetics here. Yes, Europeans who were raised in or have moved to East Asia may see things from an East Asian perspective, but that doesn't mean that genes have no role on the collective level, just that the influence genes have on an individual level is swamped by cultural or social influences.
For example, they've found genes that dominate in societies that speak tonal languages and are largely absent in societies that don't speak tonal languages (google ASPM and MCPH1). Obviousy, a Western European wouldn't usually carry the genes that predispose people to tonal languages, but would do fine speaking Chinese (a tonal language) if raised in China. So on an individual level, it doesn't matter. But when you get a whole bunch of people with either gene together and let their language evolve naturally over time, which gene dominates in that population will most likely determine whether the language evolves into a tonal or non-tonal language.
I think we're going to see a lot of findings like this in the future. Genes dominant in some populations and absent in others which collectively affect the ways societies develop, but don't have as much of an affect on an individual level.
Personally, as an Italian-American, I'm waiting to find the genetic reasons behind why Italians do just fine as minorities in Anglo countries but can't seem to govern themselves worth a dime in their own. :)
Comment: Start by ditching corn ethanol.
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Apr 14, 2008 Issue
Posted By: Ian K @ 04/09/2008 9:09:32 PM
Comment: Fire the fact-checkers! In what alternative universe does Sharon Begley live
Mommymarge @ 04/10/2008 12:48:49 AM
Comment: I live buy an ethonal plant ??????supporting farmers
Harbinger32 @ 04/09/2008 6:45:25 PM
Comment: On the subject... do a little research
ecofriendly @ 04/08/2008 5:36:42 PM
Comment: This is a horrible article.
StarReader @ 04/08/2008 4:50:43 PM
Comment: Did the author read what she wrote?
Judy Judy @ 04/08/2008 3:42:24 PM
Comment: Oh, yes... let's have the government fix the problem!
getzel @ 04/09/2008 10:18:57 PM
Comment: Sharon Begley is an oil company representative, and an outright traitor to the USA.
I built a distillery and converted my GM car to run on 160 proof ethanol by 1982.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas stations in Brazil can fill the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
We can see how clean ethanol burns real easy. If one were to fill one thimble with ethanol and one thimble with gasoline and light a match to each the gasoline billows smoke, with the ethanol the barely visible light blue flame can barely be seen. What you see is what did not burn: the pollution. This is before any polution equipment is added to clean what little pollution there is. There is more pollution in the Bigley, traitor that she is, article than in ethanol.
Gasoline is one of the most toxic substances known to be available. Ethanol is what you drink in beer. One drop of gasoline on your skin causes cancer, one drop condensed in your lungs and you die on the spot from chemical pneumonia.Just Google it.
The molecular structure of gasoline contains tons more carbon than the same quantity of ethanol. Just Google it.
Ethanol can not create Exxon Valdez disasters to the environment because it is not toxic.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
Comment: Sharon Begley seems to be: on the payroll of masters at war with the USA, and seems willing to be a traitor, like Tokyo Rose; or beyond clueless. That analysis is based on previous Sharon Begamy post.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel post.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
Comment: NOT SURE I BUY INTO THIS. ARTICLE NOT EMPIRICAL, APRIORI ONLY. FACT: DRIER CLLIMATES (HIGHER LATITUDES) WITH LOWER HUMIDITY ACTUALLY ENHANCE SURVIVABILITY OF AIRBORNE BACTERIA 6 FOLD. HENCE, FLU SEASON IN AMERICA. FACT: EUROPE HAS HAD PLENTY OF PLAGUES IN HISTORICAL TIMES (BLACK DEATH 1340 TO 1666). FACT: 1918 GLOBAL FLU PANDEMIC HIT AMERICA JUST AS HARD AS REST OF THE WORLD. NEXT TIME AUTHOR SHOULD GATHER MEASUREMENTS AND THEN DRAW CONCLUSIONS (APOSTERIORI)
Comment: Influenza is caused by a virus, not bacteria. There is a different set of survivability conditions associated with viruses. You have pointed out some glaring facts about diseases hitting the West, but I think this might be a case of misleading vividness: it is better to look at ALL pathogens, not just the spectacularly destructive ones.
Comment: Not sure I buy into comments written in all caps for no reason. Nice try.
Comment: NOT SURE I BUY INTO THIS. NO EMPIRICLE DATA IN ARTICLE, ANNECDOTAL ONLY. ASIDE FROM PARASITES, I'M NOT SURE THAT TROPICS HAVE MORE PATHOGENS. FACT: RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OF 20-40% (HIGHER LATITUDES) INCREASE SURVIVABILITY OF BACTERIA 6 FOLD (1948 STUDY OF THE LETHAL EFFECT OF HUMIDITY ON AIRBORNE PATHOGENS). HENCE, FLU SEASON IN AMERICA. WHAT ABOUT THE BLACK DEATH IN EUROPE? FIRST APPEARANCE 1340 POSSIBLE LAST IN 1660. HIGHER LATITUDES ALSO HAVE MOSQUITO BORNE DISEASE IN SEASON.
Comment: The reasons for the difference are ideas and history, not pathogens. Russia is more collectivist than the United States because British philosophers and the American Founding Fathers influenced us greatly, while Marx and Lenin influenced Russia greatly. Americans' ancestors set off on their own from their home country for a better life in America for themselves and their family. They largely fended for themselves as they settled a vast and prosperous country, leading to "rugged individualism".
You can also notice that countries in the Anglosphere are the most individualist on Earth. The reason is that english-speaking countries read the same philosophy and literature and stem from the same culture.
How individualistic a country also has to do with their leaders. Dictators naturally promote collectivism because you must be collectivist to believe that the state is more important than individual rights. Democratic leaders promote either collectivism or individualism depending on what they have absorbed from their culture and what is politically popular.
Comment: and the plague happened after europeans jumped into trade with Asia, with rats migrating up North. It is a known fact that these bugs (and even humans) do n't survive in cold Europe as good as warmer areas.
Comment: Why do westerners constantly feel that innovation is something uniquely western?Or that innovation is directly proportional to how individualistic a society is?
Here are a few innovations of the eastThe modern number system,Chess(Indian),Gunpowder,paper,compass(Chinese),metal hull ships(Korea),algebra(Arabic) etc.
Infact for most of human history the east has been far more innovative than the west.And as for pathogens the grand daddy of all such outbreaks was the black death in europe which wiped out 30% of the population that didn't make europeans any more collective than they are now.
Comment: It's not an either/or situation, it's a spectrum. Western societies have elements of collectivism and Eastern societies have very innovative measures. But it's difficult to argue that over the past five hundred years the East has been as innovative than the West. It hasn't, though it may now be catching up.
Comment: she did not really dwellon "innovation". It is your nationalistic heart that skipped a beat . at the chance of writing something praising the old glory that was East.
Comment: Fascinating! And as a University of British Columbia grad it's always great to see it mentioned in a world relevant story. Very well written!
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