Quickies
Quickies: Genes are overrated, gendered baby clothes have got to go, and the Babel fish
- Genes are overrated – “Their discovery wasn’t predestined, nor do they dictate our destinies—and current ideas about them may die.” From Will.
- Texas Republicans accidentally call the majority of Texans homosexuals – Okay that’s mostly a grammar nitpick, but still, check out the rest of their anti-homosexual, pro-Christianity platform.
- Baby clothes are the worst: Why we need less gendered, more inclusive options – “Why can’t femininity coexist with teeth and claws? Why doesn’t Target carry a pink and lime green sleeper that says “Tough Like Mommy”? A purple ruffled onesie with a dinosaur on it? Why do baby clothes need to be gendered at all?”
- This in-ear translator feels like the stuff of science fiction – A real life Babel fish?
I don’t think genes are overrated, I just think they aren’t like Legos like too many people assume.
They are building blocks, sure, but much more like atoms and molecules (which they are also) they interact in interesting ways that can’t always be quantified without experimentation.
Some people want nothing but easy answers.
I’m not sure if people still think genes as programs, like some sort of vidya power-up. Outside of Z-movies, I mean.
A recent episode of Flash Forward talked about babelfish; one of the things that the people interviewed complained about is shallow tech pieces that talk about the imminent coming of the automatic translator app. The note here is exactly that kind of thing, which glosses over the real-world problems with this kind of automatic translation.
http://www.flashforwardpod.com/2016/05/03/episode-12-omnibot/