iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 04/10/2026

My paternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants 🤔

Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 26/09/2026

A major advantage of Joe's anthro-specific report compared to the original report, is this statement that it's his personal take on things. He even includes a long discussion of his positionality! I agree w/ your larger point: academics must unite to resist the authoritarian turn in the US gov't.

Reviewing an entire discipline is essentially impossible for one person. Anthropology and
anthropologists are incredibly heterogeneous. Many biological anthropologists effectively operate
as evolutionary biologists, geneticists or paleoecologists, while many cultural anthropologists engage
in ways closer to those of literary scholars, historians, social critics or journalists. In the North
American context, the field includes anthropological linguists and archaeologists. Some
archaeologists rely on ancient DNA and isotopic analysis, while others apply hermeneutic or
interpretive approaches. As I’ll explain below, one of anthropology's great strengths, which drew
many of us to the field, is that it intentionally positioned itself at the nexus of the sciences and the
humanities.
The upshot is that I make no claim to have conducted a “full review” of any sort; no single
individual could. Instead, I’ve focused on identifying epistemological strains and trends within the
field that — in my judgment — jeopardize knowledge production.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 25/09/2026

Still, in my view the only profound differences between people are due to age: infants vs. adults. Otherwise, everyone is almost identical (and I'm open to swapping the order of sex vs. experience in this list): x.com/ed_hagen/sta...

To zeroth order approximation, all humans are identical
To first order, they differ by age (e.g., infants vs adults)
To second order, they differ by sex
To third order, they differ by experience
To fourth order, they differ genetically

The fourth can't be understood prior to 0-3

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 25/09/2026

TIL that SRY, the sex-determining Y chromosome gene, is expressed in midbrain dopamine neurons, which are involved in voluntary movement, motivation, learning, & other functions. SRY expression might help explain the male bias in DA-mediated diseases, eg, Parkinson's 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Sex-specific neuroprotection by inhibition of the Y-chromosome gene, SRY, in experimental Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that results from the loss of midbrain dopamine neurons. While the cause of PD is unknown, male sex is one of the strongest risk factors. Traditionally, sex differences in PD have been attributed to the neuroprotective actions of estrogen in females. Here we show that the Y-chromosome gene, SRY, is up-regulated in animal and cell culture models of PD, and that suppressing SRY expression in male rats diminishes neurodegeneration and motor deficits in preclinical PD models. Taken together, our findings suggest that SRY up-regulation might be a potential pathogenic mechanism of male PD, and that SRY inhibition may be a novel male-specific strategy to slow or halt the progression of PD.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 21/09/2026

I'm not convinced the discrete vs. continuous distinction is fundamental. I'm influenced by Penrose' argument that the physics standard model is computational. So either the physical human mind can be simulated by computations (not necessarily LLMs), OR we need new physics

Précis of The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning computers, minds, and the laws of physics
Roger Penrose
The emperor's new mind (hereafter Emperor) is an attempt to put forward a scientific alternative to the viewpoint of “strong AI,” according to which mental activity is merely the acting out of some algorithmic procedure. John Searle and other thinkers have likewise argued that mere calculation does not, of itself, evoke conscious mental attributes, such as understanding or intentionality, but they are still prepared to accept the action the brain, like that of any other physical object, could in principle be simulated by a computer. In Emperor I go further than this and suggest that the outward manifestations ofconscious mental activity cannot even be properly simulated by calculation. To support this view, I use various arguments to show that the results of mathematical insight, in particular, do not seem to be obtained algorithmically. The main thrust ofthis work, however, is to present an overview ofthe present state of physical understanding and to show that an important gap exists at the point where, quantum and classical physics meet, as well as to speculate on how the conscious brain might be taking advantage ofwhatever new physics is needed to fill this gap to achieve its nonalgorithmic effects.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 20/09/2026

Jesus, too, was an apocalyptic prophet 🙂 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histori...

Apocalyptic prophet
See also: Apocalypticism and Jewish eschatology

The apocalyptic prophet view primarily emphasizes Jesus preparing his fellow Jews for the End Times. The first proponent of this hypothesis was Albert Schweitzer in his 1906 book The Quest of the Historical Jesus.[233]

The works of E. P. Sanders and Maurice Casey place Jesus within the context of Jewish eschatological tradition.[234][235]: 169–204 [236]: 199–235 Ehrman, Adams, and Ferda align with Schweitzer's views on Jesus’ apocalyptic expectation.

Jewish eschatology is the area of Jewish theology concerned with events that will happen in the end of days and related concepts. This includes the ingathering of the exiled diaspora, the coming of the Jewish Messiah, the afterlife, and the resurrection of the dead.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/09/2026

I asked google to fact check the international gifts (one minor error) and if there were additional international gifts (many):

Fact-Checking the International GiftsThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was built as a "living memorial" to the 35th president and features numerous gifts from foreign nations:Italian Marble: ✅ TRUE. Italy gifted over 3,700 tons of white Carrara marble for the exterior and interior walls of the structure.French Matisse Tapestries: ✅ TRUE. In 1971, France formally presented two tapestries designed by Henri Matisse along with two sculptures by Henry Laurens.Swedish Starburst Chandelier: ⚠️ PARTIALLY INCORRECT. The tweet mixes up two separate European gifts. The famous, massive 12,000-crystal starburst chandelier hanging in the center of the Opera House was actually a gift from Austria (crafted by J. & L. Lobmeyr). Sweden's official gift consisted of 18 Orrefors crystal chandeliers, which illuminate the Grand Foyer, along with lights for the grand vestibule and walkways.Japanese Stage Curtains: ✅ TRUE. Japan gifted the grand red-and-gold silk stage curtain for the Opera House. Because of its immense size, weavers in the Nishijin district of Kyoto had to construct a custom, oversized Jacquard loom with 3,600 individual needles to create it.

Yes, dozens of countries gifted millions of dollars worth of artwork, furnishings, and architectural features to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to honor the late president's legacy. The total value of these international donations was estimated at over $3 million when the facility opened.The additional foreign contributions are grouped below by category:Lighting & CrystalsAustria: The signature, 12,000-crystal starburst chandelier hanging in the center of the Opera House.Norway: Eleven distinct crystal chandeliers hanging in the Concert Hall.Ireland: A Waterford crystal chandelier paired with matching wall sconces in the south lounge of the Opera House.Artworks & SculpturesGermany: A massive, two-panel allegorical bronze sculpture by artist Jürgen Weber, located on the center's plaza entrance.Great Britain: A prominent abstract bronze sculpture created by celebrated artist Dame Barbara Hepworth.Israel: Specialized artwork and custom interior furnishings explicitly designed for the Concert Hall lounge.Textiles & Interior FurnishingsCanada: The main fabric stage curtain utilized in the Eisenhower Theater.Belgium: Large, elaborate glass mirrors installed throughout the Grand Foyer and the box-tier lobby of the Opera House.Denmark: Mid-century modern furnishings and artwork designated for the north lounge of the Opera House.Pakistan: Handcrafted carpets and textiles crafted for the Eisenhower Theater lounge.Finland: Elegant sets of designer chinaware used exclusively in the building's Gallery and Promenade restaurants.Other participating nations like India, Thailand, and Turkey also contributed materials including raw brass, premium silks, and fine porcelain to complete the living memorial.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 16/09/2026

🧪 #BioAnth anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/media/docume...

The Functions of Postpartum Depression
Edward H. Hagen
Evolutionary approaches to parental care suggest that parents will not automatically invest in all offspring, and they should reduce or eliminate investment in their children if the costs outweigh the benefits. Lack of paternal or social support will increase the costs born by mothers, whereas infant health problems will reduce the evolutionary benefits to be gained. Numerous studies support the correlation between postpartum depression (PPD) and lack of social support or indicators of possible infant health and development problems. PPD may be an adaptation that informs mothers that they are suffering or have suffered a fitness cost, which motivates them to reduce or eliminate investment in offspring under certain circumstances, and that may help them negotiate greater levels of investment from others. PPD also appears to be a good model for depression in general. © 1999

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 16/09/2026

The caption of that figure hints at his not-yet-published theory of evolution by natural selection:

The most curious fact is the perfect gradation in the size of the beaks in the different species of Geospiza….Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, 1845

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/09/2026

Related: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 06/09/2026

Perhaps this? www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 03/09/2026

Academia in the US 🧪 #AcademicSky My plot of data from: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A treemap showing the proportion of tenure-line faculty in all disciplines in all 392 doctoral-degree-granting US universities. Most are in Medicine & Health, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Math and Computing, and Applied Sciences, and only a minority in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

What kinds of "mental" problems are the authors referring to that qualify as disorders? These are everyday problems of living (like repeatedly losing one's keys)...

4.2 Everyday problem-solving
According to our version of the agential approach, it does not really matter how common or uncommon the problems in question are, or how normal or abnormal they might seem from the perspective of societal standards, to determine whether someone needs mental healthcare. Instead, according to our definition of problem-sustaining patterns, what matters is whether there is a pattern that persistently or recurrently counteracts or undermines a person’s attempts to solve their problem.

The notion of a problem in this definition is meant to include common problems. ‘Problems in living,’ to borrow a phrase from Thomas Szasz (88), that we all face every day.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

More specifically, to solve the "demarcation problem: the problem of how to justify the normative distinction between mental health and disorder", the authors propose:

The solution we propose, simply put, is that people need mental healthcare when they have problems that are being sustained by the kind of patterns that fall in the domain of mental healthcare. At first, this formulation may sound trivial or circular, but it captures an important conceptual shift from demarcating the problems themselves to demarcating the mechanisms of sustainment. Theoretically, any problem that a person has can, but need not, be a mental health problem, depending on whether there is a pattern that prevents this person from solving it on their own. This does not mean that anything can be a problem, or that something only counts as a problem if the client thinks it does. Our proposal requires a comprehensive theory of what problems are, and we will sketch one in the next section.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

I took @eikofried.bsky.social's suggestion and read the entire article before continuing to comment. The aim of the article is to "[revise] the established concept of mental disorder" as "a problem-sustaining pattern"

problem-sustaining pattern:

a pattern of dynamic interaction between biological, psychological, and/or social factors that persistently or recurrently counteracts or undermines everyday problem-solving activities

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

In this paragraph and the next one, the authors fail to note that Wakefield's harmful dysfunction concept (yes, I'm a Wakefield stan) combines the normative view (harmful) with the naturalist view (dysfunction):

4.1 What is the source of clinical normativity?
At the end of section 2.1 we mentioned the demarcation problem: the problem of how to justify the normative distinction between mental health and disorder. There is a longstanding debate in the philosophy of psychiatry between naturalists and normativists about the grounds on which this distinction can be justified. Naturalists argue that the same empirical facts that explain the causes behind those behaviors or symptoms that we regard as mental illness must also justify why we regard them as mental illness. The view of Boorse that judgments about mental disorders can be reduced to facts about biological dysfunctions (41), which we discussed in section 2 above, is an example of this. Normativists, on the other hand, argue that empirical knowledge of how a state of affairs is caused or sustained, or how it might be changed, is different from justifying whether a state of affairs is a health issue, and how it should be changed. Within the normativist camp, some choose to focus on the social, cultural and political dynamics lying at the heart of the concept of mental illness. This is also known as social constructivism (93, 94). Others put forward accounts of health and illness in terms of (impediments to) individual agency and elucidate the inherent value-ladenness of this concept. We might term this ‘agential normativism’ (95, 96).

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

Again, Wakefield's "harmful" criterion is relevant here. A condition is only an illness, i.e., "pathological", if it is *harmful*.

Thus, HiTOP and RDoC fail to appreciate that it is better not to pathologize factors that only contribute to the sustainment of a problem in particular contexts and in interaction with specific other factors. Furthermore, both approaches assume that something can only be a health problem if its problematic nature can be reduced to an evolutionary or neurological dysfunction. Instead, we believe there is a better way to understand the normativity of mental health, as we will argue in section 4.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 31/08/2026

I'll comment as I read through the paper. First, this paragraph basically reprises Wakefield's "harmful" criterion of his two-part "harmful dysfunction" illness concept (albeit by seemingly conflating "harm" with "dysfunction"), without acknowledging (or at least addressing) Wakefield:

It is important not to pathologize contributing factors that are not instrinsically dysfunctional. Since the 19th century, for example, hearing voices has been viewed, both in Western society and clinical practice, as ipso facto something pathological, for example as an indicator, prodrome or symptom of schizophrenia or other mental disorders7. But it turns out that many people hear voices without having a problem (48–51), and some people who recovered from problems involving psychosis still hear voices, but no longer in an undesirable interaction with other factors (52, 53). Furthermore, by pathologizing this phenomenon in itself, we make life more difficult for people who hear voices, both those for whom it is and for whom it isn’t a problem (leading us back to the moral concern about stigma).

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 30/08/2026

"C-reactive protein [increases] in response to injury & infection. Approximately 30% of patients w/ depression have high CRP levels..." Intimate partner violence, & physical & sexual assault are potent risk factors for depression 🤔 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Global Prevalence and Mental Health Outcomes of Intimate Partner Violence Among Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the magnitude of the association between types of intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health outcomes and shed light on the large variation in IPV prevalence rates between low- to middle-income countries and high-income countries. The study is a systematic review and meta-analysis. The following databases were searched for this study: Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. The inclusion criteria for this study are as follows: quantitative studies published from 2012 to 2020 on IPV exposure in women aged 16+, using validated measures. Random effects meta-analyses and subgroup analysis exploring heterogeneity across population groups in different economic contexts are used in this study. In all, 201 studies were included with 250,599 women, primarily from high-income countries. Higher prevalence rates were reported for women’s lifetime IPV than past year IPV. Lifetime psychological violence was the most prevalent form of IPV. Women in the community reported the highest prevalence for physical, psychological, and sexual violence in the past year compared to clinical groups. Perinatal women were most likely to have experienced lifetime physical IPV. Prevalence rates differed significantly (p = .037 to <.001) for “any IPV” and all subtypes by income country level. Meta-analysis suggested increased odds for all mental health outcomes associated with IPV including depression (odds ratio [OR] = 2.04–3.14), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (OR = 2.15–2.66), and suicidality (OR = 2.17–5.52). Clinical and community populations were exposed to high prevalence of IPV and increased likelihood of depression, PTSD, and suicidality. Future research should seek to understand women’s perspectives…

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 29/08/2026

A veritable who's who:

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 24/08/2026

New BBS paper out today on the evolution of cuteness. Might be some clues here 🙂 👶 www.cambridge.org/core/service...

Cuteness is widely associated with caregiving responses to infants, but its adaptive
function remains underspecified. We propose a developmental investment theory, according
to which cuteness is not merely a protection-eliciting mechanism but a motivational system
that evolved to promote teaching, guidance, and social play toward inexperienced individuals.
Cuteness signals curiosity, naïveté, and openness rather than mere vulnerability, explaining
why children are cutest when sociable and why adults can appear cute. This framework
integrates evolutionary anthropology, neuroscience, and developmental psychology, accounts
for cultural uses of cuteness, and suggests a role in animal domestication and the self-
domestication of humans.
Keywords: Social Cognition, Development, Behavioral Ecology, Cultural Evolution,
Cuteness, Domestication Syndrome, Evolutionary Psychology, Life History, Parental
Investment, Social Learning

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/08/2026

BTW, pushback on this view seems to be motivated by a desire to refute ID. But I agree with Elliot Sober: After Darwin, there is no need to invoke ID: www.google.com/books/editio...

It does not surprise me that intelligent people strongly favored the design hypothesis when the only alternative available to them was random physical processes. But Darwin entirely altered the dialectical landscape of this problem. His hypothesis of evolution by natural selection is a third possibility; it requires no intelligent design, nor is natural selection properly viewed as a "random physical process." Paley argued that likelihood considerations favor design over randomness; it is a separate question whether likelihood favors design over evolution by natural selection.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/08/2026

Many biologists today study certain biological systems, like the system driving the bacterial flagellum, as literal machines: "Rotation is driven by a flagellar motor, which is a supercomplex containing multiple rings." From this recent paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/08/2026

"Metaphors/similes/analogies are not models, so I don't think that Box's dictum applies here." There is a widespread view that Paley, at least, argued that organisms were literally machines: www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 23/08/2026

I haven't read Cofnas so I can't comment on that specifically. However, academic freedom does not trump research ethics, which stipulate that the benefits of research to individuals, families, special groups, & the public at large must outweigh the risks. Belmont Report: www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulat...

Risks and benefits of research may affect the individual subjects, the families of the individual subjects, and society at large (or special groups of subjects in society). Previous codes and Federal regulations have required that risks to subjects be outweighed by the sum of both the anticipated benefit to the subject, if any, and the anticipated benefit to society in the form of knowledge to be gained from the research. In balancing these different elements, the risks and benefits affecting the immediate research subject will normally carry special weight. On the other hand, interests other than those of the subject may on some occasions be sufficient by themselves to justify the risks involved in the research, so long as the subjects' rights have been protected. Beneficence thus requires that we protect against risk of harm to subjects and also that we be concerned about the loss of the substantial benefits that might be gained from research.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 22/08/2026

All of us posting on social media (or producing for any media) should be aware of the results of this 2015 meta-analysis 🧪 doi.org/10.1542/peds...

Bullying and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Over the last decade there has been increased attention to the association between bullying involvement (as a victim, perpetrator, or bully-victim) and suicidal ideation/behaviors. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the association between bullying involvement and suicidal ideation and behaviors.

METHODS:
We searched multiple online databases and reviewed reference sections of articles derived from searches to identify cross-sectional studies published through July 2013. Using search terms associated with bullying, suicide, and youth, 47 studies (38.3% from the United States, 61.7% in non-US samples) met inclusion criteria. Seven observers independently coded studies and met in pairs to reach consensus.

RESULTS:
Six different meta-analyses were conducted by using 3 predictors (bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, and bully/victim status) and 2 outcomes (suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors). A total of 280 effect sizes were extracted and multilevel, random effects meta-analyses were performed. Results indicated that each of the predictors were associated with risk for suicidal ideation and behavior (range, 2.12 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.67–2.69] to 4.02 [95% CI, 2.39–6.76]). Significant heterogeneity remained across each analysis. The bullying perpetration and suicidal behavior effect sizes were moderated by the study’s country of origin; the bully/victim status and suicidal ideation results were moderated by bullying assessment method.

CONCLUSIONS:
Findings demonstrated that involvement in bullying in any capacity is associated with suicidal ideation and behavior. Future research should address mental health implications of bullying involvement to prevent suicidal ideation/behavior.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 21/08/2026

Instead, Darwin aimed to explain *how* these mechanisms arose without invoking a divine creator, as he explained in his introduction to Origin: www.gutenberg.org/files/1228/1...

In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which most justly excites our admiration. Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as climate, food, etc., as the only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees. In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.
The author of the ‘Vestiges of Creation’ would, I presume, say that, after a certain unknown number of generations, some bird had given birth to a woodpecker, and some plant to the misseltoe, and that these had been produced perfect as we now see them; but this assumption seems to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case of the coadaptations of organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life, un…

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/08/2026

Darwin was heavily influenced by Paley. Darwin and Wallace gave us our modern explanation for the specialized parts of organisms that adapted them to their environments: Natural selection.

In order to pass the B.A. examination, it was, also, necessary to get up Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and his Moral Philosophy... The logic of this book and as I may add of his Natural Theology gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the Academical Course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about Paley's premises; and taking these on trust I was charmed and convinced of the long line of argumentation.
Charles Darwin, Autobiography, c. 1876

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 19/08/2026

It was arguably Paley who gave us the modern scientific model of organisms: these are machines comprising numerous specialized parts that are adapted (yes!) to their various environments (In Natural Theology, Paley repeatedly uses the terms "adapted" and "adaptation"):

THE RELATION OF ANIMATED BODIES TO INANIMATE NATURE.

[page] 291

WE have already considered relation, and under different views; but it was the relation of parts to parts, of the parts of an animal to other parts of the same animal, or of another individual of the same species.
But the bodies of animals hold, in their constitution and properties, a close and important relation to natures altogether external to their own; to inanimate substances, and to the specific qualities of these, e. g. they hold a strict relation to the ELEMENTSby which they are surrounded.

I. Can it be doubted, whether the wings of birds bear a relation to air, and the fins of fish to water? They are instruments of motion, severally suited to the properties of the medium in which the motion is to be performed: which properties are different. Was not this difference contemplated, when the instruments were differently constituted?

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 17/08/2026

Growth and movement of cells in a human hair follicle. From this paper (see ALT for more details). 🧪 Mapping cell dynamics in human ex vivo hair follicles suggests pulling mechanism of hair growth www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

TE's are not microRNA's. They are DNA sequences that, via transcription to RNA, translation, and then *reverse transcription*, copy themselves into different parts of the genome. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrotr...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

Addendum: Here is the genome size plot in tweet #2 that didn't display correctly (note that the x-axis is on a log scale):

Plot of genome sizes in multiple species showing that they vary over many orders of magnitude.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

Damn alpha channel! Here is the genome size plot:

Bar plot of genome sizes varying over many orders of magnitude

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

15. The upshot is that the PCA/STRUCTURE/UMAP plots that seem to indicate profound biological differences between human populations are mostly just displaying degrees of similarities or differences in random genetic noise inherited from more or less recent common ancestors.

UMAP plot showing global human populations like Japanese and Swedish

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

13. Thus, much of her 👇 genetic variation is equivalent to the noise on her TV screen:

Woman leaning on a TV showing "snow" (video noise)

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

12. Of the million+ human TEs, all but a very few are inactive and probably evolving neutrally: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Because TE insertions rarely provide an immediate fitness advantage to their host, those reaching fixation in the population do so largely by genetic drift and are subsequently eroded by point mutations that accumulate neutrally [21]. Over time, these mutations result in TEs that can no longer encode transposition enzymes and produce new integration events. For instance, our (haploid) genome contains ~ 500,000 L1 copies, but more than 99.9% of these L1 copies are fixed and no longer mobile due to various forms of mutations and truncations [39, 40].

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

4. Transposable elements (TEs) are selfish "parasitic" genetic elements that "copy-paste" (retrotransposons 👇) or "cut-paste" (DNA transposons) themselves within the germline, increasing their frequency by vertical transmission.

Plot showing how retrotransposons copy-paste into the genome

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

3. Why? The explanation requires the Williams/Dawkins concept of selfish genetic elements that "enhance their own transmission at the expense of other genes in the genome, even if this has no or a negative effect on organismal fitness": journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Book covers of Adaptation and Natural Selection (Williams) and The Selfish Gene (Dawkins)

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

2. Genome sizes vary tremendously in ways that do not obviously relate to organism complexity, e.g., many fish and amphibians have huge genomes compared to mammals (note that the number of base pairs on the x-axis is on a log scale): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome_...

Plot showing that within and across major taxonomic groups, genome size varies by many orders of magnitude

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 15/08/2026

1. Much human genetic variation has ~zero impact on phenotypes. Why? Cooperative genes are locked in a forever war w/ selfish genes (red queen dynamics). The cooperative genes have won most battles but now our genomes are littered w/ the dead & decaying bodies of a million selfish genes 🧵 🧪 #BioAnth

Illustration from the movie Queen's Gambit, with a red-haired women playing chess with a red queen

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/08/2026

From Tinbergen (1963), where he puts forward his famous four questions 🧪 #BioAnth

Survival value
Lorenz's thesis that behaviour patterns, i.e. their mechanisms, ought to be considered "organs", and to be studied as such, has also had a beneficial effect on the study of the survival value of behaviour. In the post-Darwinian era, a reaction against uncritical acceptance of the selection theory set in, Which reached its climax in the great days of Comparative Anatomy, but which still affects many physiologically inclined biologists. It was a reaction against the habit of making uncritical guesses about the survival value, the function, of life processes and structures. This reaction, of course healthy in itself, did not (as one might expect) result in an attempt to improve methods of studying survival value; rather it deteriorated into lack of interest in the problem = one of the most deplorable things that can happen to a science. Worse, it even developed into an attitude of intolerance: even wondering about survival value was considered unscientific. I still remember how perplexed I was upon being told off firmly by one of my Zoology professors when I brought up the question of survival value after he had asked "Has anyone an idea why so many birds flock more densely when they are attacked by a bird of prey?"

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 13/08/2026

Regarding the health benefits of filtered vs. unfiltered brewing:

Filtered coffee uses a paper barrier to trap oily compounds called diterpenes (cafestol and kahweol), making it better for heart health. Unfiltered coffee—like French press, espresso, or boiled brew—lets these oils pass through, which can raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol and increase cardiovascular risks over time.Filtered Coffee Health EffectsHeart protection: Lowers risks of clogged arteries and heart disease death.Cholesterol safe: Paper filters block cafestol, keeping your blood lipids stable.Longevity: Linked in studies to a lower overall risk of early death.Antioxidants retained: Passes healthy water-soluble polyphenols through the paper.Unfiltered Coffee Health EffectsRaises cholesterol: Cafestol and kahweol increase LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.Higher heart risk: Regular high intake of boiled or press coffee links to increased cardiovascular mortality, especially in older adults.Stronger body: Retains micro-particles and oils that give a richer taste, but with the lipid penalty.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 12/08/2026

3. Put the rendered index.html file into a folder & drag & drop folder to cloudflare pages (free): developers.cloudflare.com/pages/get-st... 4. Connect your custom domain: developers.cloudflare.com/pages/config... Here's mine: edhagen.net

Ed Hagen
I am a Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University.

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 12/08/2026

Create an (almost) free personal/professional 1-page website in 4 steps using #rstats and R Markdown 🧪: 1. Buy a personal domain name (~ $10/yr): www.cloudflare.com/products/reg... 2. Create your page in R markdown using this R package (this is one of five templates): github.com/seankross/po...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 11/08/2026

help.osf.io/article/547-...

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 11/08/2026

I dug into this a long time ago and osf claimed they had set aside money for long-term storage on google cloud.

Ed Hagen
@ed_hagen
·
Aug 16, 2019
Also consider archiving on
@ZENODO_ORG
, which has long-term funding from CERN. Long term funding model for OSF is far from clear.

https://about.zenodo.org/infrastructure/

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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 07/08/2026

Geek afternoon: Wildfires are causing hazardous air quality conditions. IKEA sells a $35 Matter-enabled air quality sensor that connects to Apple Home, provides PM2.5 & CO2 values, & ain't bad. Challenge: log values every 15 min w/o using any 3rd party tools Solution: Shortcuts + launchd 🧪🧵 1/4

Air quality indices in the Portland OR area show dangerous levels

Image of IKEA ALPSTUGA air quality monitor showing PM2.5 = 1 μg/m^3

Shortcut:
Get ALPSTUGA air quality monitor PM2.5 Density in Hagen Hess Home

Stop and output PM2.5 density

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://apple.com">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.hagen.airquality.logger</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/bin/zsh</string>
<string>-c</string>
<string>echo "$(/bin/date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S)|$(/usr/bin/shortcuts run PM2.5)|$(/usr/bin/shortcuts run CO2)" >> /Users/hagen/air-quality/sensordata.txt</string>
</array>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>900</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

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