Day: October 14, 2012

Caveat: Ghanian Pop

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism

pictureIf I ever went to Africa, Ghana is one of the countries that most interests me. I can’t really explain why – it’s partly related to my econo-geekery: Ghana is a remarkable economic success story, in many respects, in a region replete with disasters. That, in and of itself, is interesting. But as the culture grows more prosperous, it takes on the trappings of the globalized bourgeois everywhere. One aspect: pop music and videos.

I spent part of the afternoon yesterday watching Ghanian music videos. This behavior is inexplicable.

What I’m listening to right now.

Becca, “Daa Ke Daa.”

And meanwhile, reading Henry James. Why did I ever dislike this author?

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Caveat: A Consequence of Evolutionary Success

Found Online / Science & SciFi

The article at The Atlantic website begins with this striking observation: "More people die from suicide than from murder and war combined, throughout the world, every year." From there, the author, Brian Gabriel, develops the idea that depression may be a consequence of evolutionary success: which is to say, there is something positively adaptive about the genetics behind depression, related to both immune response and other, more behavioral results. Basically, if you're a member of hominid species that mostly dies of disease in youth, there may be an evolutionary advantage to reacting to stress by isolating yourself and sleeping all day.

This actually makes some sense. I'm not savvy enough to judge the bits about immune response – and I also seem to remember learning that depression actually lowers immune response – so I'm not sure how that works or what the interaction is.

Regardless, it's a very interesting, brief article.

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