Interesting Links for 12-09-2014

[andrewducker]

• Researchers search for genes behind intelligence, find almost nothing
  (tags: genetics intelligence )
• How Google’s Autonomous Car Passed the First U.S. State Self-Driving Test
  (tags: Google cars )
• How Simon Pegg's daughter saved Star Wars
  (tags: starwars )
• Parliament without Scottish MPs: how would it have looked different since 1997?
  (tags:

Comments

How Google’s Autonomous Car Passed the First U.S. State Self-Driving Test

[drdoug]

Reading about the self-driving test, I started thinking, "That's a rubbish driving test!". Then I remembered the numerous articles I've read comparing UK driving tests to US ones. On reflection, it's probably about the same level of rigour as they give human drivers.

Happiness

[doubtingmichael]

So, weird question: what purpose does happiness serve from an evolutionary perspective? It just doesn't seem necessary to me: I can imagine an intelligent species that could do perfectly well living lives with an emotional range from "frightened" to "not frightened". Our survival instincts operate without any question of "will I be happy if I live?" I have been wondering about this question for a few months, on and off.

Weird idea: our capacity for happiness, like our sex drive, is intimately associated with our reproductive cycle. Our sex drive pushes us to behaviour that makes procreation more likely. Maybe our happiness is correlated with having children because it is an emotion that evolved to push us towards a child-raising lifestyle.

Presto: suddenly the "parents are happier" claim has an evolutionary backing. (Which doesn't make it a good study, of course.)

Caution: most evolutionary psychology is bollocks, probably including this idea.

[alextfish]

Those imaginary independent Scotland headlines are spectacularly funny.