Topic: Health and Religion - page 4. (Read 211020 times)

I am not sure about being reliable, but you could try

http://test.mensa.no/

It should reliably measure IQ between 85-115.

If you score outside of this range, you will get a message saying that your IQ cannot be reliably measured by this test.

Join your local mensa society.  Mensa offers reliable tests to prospective members.

It is important to follow the religion to be healthy and it is necessary to be religious. Following religion gives us inner peace.

Not yet, but its getting closer and closer

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_and_theoretical_biology

GαsEdit

Gαs activates the cAMP-dependent pathway by stimulating the production of cyclic AMP (cAMP) from ATP. This is accomplished by direct stimulation of the membrane-associated enzyme adenylate cyclase. cAMP can then act as a second messenger that goes on to interact with and activate protein kinase A (PKA). PKA can phosphorylate a myriad downstream targets.

The cAMP-dependent pathway is used as a signal transduction pathway for many hormones including:

ADH – Promotes water retention by the kidneys (created by the magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the posterior pituitary)GHRH – Stimulates the synthesis and release of GH (somatotropic cells of the anterior pituitary)GHIH – Inhibits the synthesis and release of GH (somatotropic cells of anterior pituitary)CRH – Stimulates the synthesis and release of ACTH (anterior pituitary)ACTH – Stimulates the synthesis and release of cortisol (zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal glands)TSH – Stimulates the synthesis and release of a majority of T4 (thyroid gland)LH – Stimulates follicular maturation and ovulation in women; or testosterone production and spermatogenesis in menFSH – Stimulates follicular development in women; or spermatogenesis in menPTH – Increases blood calcium levels. This is accomplished via the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1) in the kidneys and bones, or via the parathyroid hormone 2 receptor (PTH2) in the central nervous system and brain, as well as the bones and kidneys.Calcitonin – Decreases blood calcium levels (via the calcitonin receptor in the intestines, bones, kidneys, and brain)Glucagon – Stimulates glycogen breakdown in the liverhCG – Promotes cellular differentiation, and is potentially involved in apoptosis.[21]Epinephrine – released by the adrenal medulla during the fasting state, when body is under metabolic duress. It stimulates glycogenolysis, in addition to the actions of glucagon.GαiEdit

Gαi inhibits the production of cAMP from ATP. eg. somatostatin,prostaglandins

Gαq/11Edit

Gαq/11 stimulates the membrane-bound phospholipase C beta, which then cleaves PIP2 (a minor membrane phosphoinositol) into two second messengers, IP3 and diacylglycerol (DAG). The Inositol Phospholipid Dependent Pathway is used as a signal transduction pathway for many hormones including:

ADH (Vasopressin/AVP) – Induces the synthesis and release of glucocorticoids (Zona fasciculata of adrenal cortex in kidney); Induces vasoconstriction (V1 Cells of Posterior pituitary)TRH – Induces the synthesis and release of TSH (Anterior pituitary)TSH – Induces the synthesis and release of a small amount of T4 (Thyroid Gland)Angiotensin II – Induces Aldosterone synthesis and release (zona glomerulosa of adrenal cortex in kidney)GnRH – Induces the synthesis and release of FSH and LH (Anterior Pituitary)Gα12/13EditGα12/13 are involved in Rho family GTPase signaling (see Rho family of GTPases). This is through the RhoGEF superfamily involving the RhoGEF domain of the proteins' structures). These are involved in control of cell cytoskeleton remodeling, and thus in regulating cell migration.GβEditThe Gβγ complexes sometimes also have active functions. Examples include coupling to and activating G protein-coupled inwardly-rectifying potassium channels.


Hlm ok 


Still its mostly empirical study

In a study of 203 male and female university students, participants with short (308-325 bp) vs. long (327-342) versions of RS3 were less generous, as measured by lower scores on both money allocations in the dictator game, as well as by self-report with the Bardi-Schwartz Universalism and Benevolence Value-expressive Behavior Scales; although the precise functional significance of longer AVPR1A RS3 repeats is not known, they are associated with higher AVPR1A postmortem hippocampal mRNA levels.[9]

And greed is brought about by anomalies in the genetic code. These days vaccines in infants cause it.

Well you can think whatever you want but they are not correlated. We have dumb psychopaths who end up in jail for stupid crimes and we have intelligent psychopaths who are sitting as CEOs of multinational companies. Being a psychopath don't automatically make one dumb, same way that being empathetic makes one smart. Multiple intelligences.

And that thing about happiness, it varies among individuals. You cannot claim someone is unhappy by using your own standard of happiness.

Which protein this gene code for, how this protein affect selfishness ?

Correlation doesnt mean causality. Like absurd reasoning of socrates. Its like testing a program with unit test vs formal proof. The first doesnt prove a lot.

Already with epi genetic its not always meaningful to isolate a gene, because there can always be inhibitors or other genes that will affect a behavior as well.

Saying that there is an isolated gene responsible for such complex behavior seems a bit bold thats all. Is it like magic thinking or something ?

For me a psychpath is not intelligent He only think he is, and only focus on some narrow understanding of some part of people and consequences. Psychopath can be defined as not really conscious of the consequences of his action, so no fully intelligent. They still rarely end up as happy persons.

Even empathy in itself doesnt mean sympathy and ability to improve someone happiness its a passive thing, like intelligence is also a passive thing.

There is this concept also of cognitive empathy, which mean more or less ability to conceptualize empathic feeling, and also give more context on how to act on it, like they explain the example with a cat, if you see it meowing you can sense a disconfort with empathy but if you dont know what he eats,  how to get it etc, in itself its not very useful either.

Its also why intelligence comes with more complex languages, and ability to conceptualize more "states" and more complex situations and elaborate more complex cooperative strategies.

Not necessarily. A psychopath might be intelligent enough to understand and predict people without feeling empathetic for them. I don't dispute that we became increasing intelligent to handle the complexities of larger society but it alone does not explain empathy. I would dare say empathy came first coz without it we wouldn't have formed groups in the first place.

They identify it empirically, not structurally. Science is also axiomatic reasoning. A collection of statistics never made a science. Almost anything can be proven with empiric method and enough cherry picking.

I still stand with edelman when he says the influence of genetics on the brain is not clear, and genetics doesnt code for brain développement.

So that mean selfishness is not dependant on the brain, which seem contradictory with things like mirror neurons Who seem to take part in "empathy" or certain social behavior.

Its still mostly empirical, doesnt show what protein this gene code for and how it influence a person behavior.

^^^ This is where I fail at times. The only way to convert anyone to faith is to use the words of the Bible. My words are mostly not good enough paraphrasing of what the Bible says to do the job.

I agree that presenting this as a problem of a few bad genes is oversimplification. The problem is deeper then that. While it is certainly true that there are some genes that make the problem worse and other genes that mitigate it to a small degree the problem persists even among those with more favorable genetics.  

For example most people would say that their friends and neighbors are "good people". However, in your personal life how many friends and neighbors would you be willing on trust alone hold onto your savings of say $100,000 for safekeeping? The number of "good people" we find around us drops remarkable quickly when we really really require them to be good in the face of temptation.

The problem goes far beyond a few bad genes that can be targeted and modified. Human nature itself is infused with tremendous evil. We are truly fallen creatures.

 

The only real solution would require a voluntary and complete transformation of each and every human being into something that was pure. It would require a change so profound the only analogy I can think of is transformation of a bunch of individual cancer cells on a Petri dish to into a full and functional intelligent multicellular organism with each cell working for the greater good of the whole.

While this task may be theoretically achievable I think it is fairly obvious that our species lacks what it takes to accomplish it on our own. I will share a couple more quotes that sprang to mind while writing this post.

Romans 7:18
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

John 3:3-3:6
Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
"How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

That is quite the assumption. Does that sound at all like humanity to you? Perhaps it would be possible for a different intelligent species elsewhere in the universe. Some much wiser race could probably elevate themselves gradually in this way but not us.

I agree that our future is likely to contained such programmed selfless people but they are far more likely to be manufactured to order by and subject to the whims of the conditioners grounded in the self and outside of that control. In short the technology is certain to be abused. When has humanity ever not abused technology?

C.S. Lewis laid out how this will probably go in his book "The Abolition of Man"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idgYLTnSzxI&t=2s

Its a bit too empirical to be convincing for me

For me intelligence is the same thing as empathy/consciousness. Its the ability to be aware of your surrounding. Some says the developpment of intelligence is more related to ability to live in large groups of individual rather than understanding physics with asperger syndrome.

How do you know selfishness/selflessness is the expression of a gene ?

If that really is the case then that's good that both groups are outliers and the "normal people" outnumber them. I'm still a bit skeptical though, I think empathy/selfishness is a trait separate from intelligence.

Both the extremes of high and low IQ appear to nudge people towards socialism. Here is the original source for that point of discussion.

Disadvantages of high IQ
Mensa Magazine June 2009 pp 34-5
http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.com/2012/08/disadvantages-of-high-iq.html?m=1

Its not a very good answer, edelman first got a nobel prize studying imune system, and in itself its aware of its environnement, able to have memory, detect infectious agent / toxins, albeit not being directly connected to the central nervous system.

If you follow edelman boostrap theory with the reentrant connection and different level of consciousness, it show higher cognitive function are still heavily dependant on feedback from physiology. Essentially in this theory what drive the developpment of higher cognitive function is fitting physiological input, and physiology depend on chemical interaction and physical constraint etc

Even monocellular organism can display a form of sentience, and awareness of environnement with "intelligent" reaction to promote its survival and reproduction.

Just throwing this also as "food for thought"

https://www.quantamagazine.org/choosy-eggs-may-pick-sperm-for-their-genes-defying-mendels-law-20171115/



Joe Nadeau, principal scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute, is challenging this dogma. Random fertilization should lead to specific ratios of gene combinations in offspring, but Nadeau has found two examples just from his own lab that indicate fertilization can be far from random: Certain pairings of gamete genes are much more likely than others. After ruling out obvious alternative explanations, he could only conclude that fertilization wasn’t random at all.

“It’s the gamete equivalent of choosing a partner,” Nadeau said.

His hypothesis – that the egg could woo sperm with specific genes and vice versa – is part of a growing realization in biology that the egg is not the submissive, docile cell that scientists long thought it was. Instead, researchers now see the egg as an equal and active player in reproduction, adding layers of evolutionary control and selection to one of the most important processes in life.



Its really not simple to answer that.

Well its clear we dont observe the manifestation of consciousness outside of a body, but in itself it also its hard To say where sentience really start, descartes tried to find this "seat of reasonning", which he located in the pineal gland, but now we know this to be false, and we still dont really know which organ or which part of the brain really make us sentient, if Its located in the brain at all.

For me from the moment there is a will to survive and grow/reproduce it imply a form of sentience.