LINKS - October 11th, 2023
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
Ancient Skulls Reveal Shifts in Human Violence across Millennia
By Joanna Thompson, Scientific American
“Instead periods of violence appear to have flared up before later simmering down numerous times in different regions depending on myriad factors, according to the study, which was published in Nature Human Behaviour. The authors looked at a period of Middle Eastern history between 12,000 and 400 B.C.E. and drew from the skeletal remains of more than 3,500 individuals. The scientist found that evidence of interpersonal violence—primarily in the form of head trauma—increased significantly during times of socioeconomic upheaval and shifting climate.”
My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
“For most people, this should be a rather simple exercise, perhaps even satisfying. For me, it’s a considerable strain, because I don’t “see” any of those things. For each and every one of the prompts, I rate my mental image “0” on a 0 to 5 scale, because as soon as I close my eyes, what I see are not everyday objects, animals, and vehicles, but the dark underside of my eyelids. I can’t willingly form the faintest of images in my mind. And, although it isn’t the subject of the current experiment, I also can’t conjure sounds, smells, or any other kind of sensory stimulation inside my head. I have what is called “aphantasia,” the absence of voluntary imagination of the senses. I know what a top hat is. I can describe its main characteristics. I can even draw an above-average impression of one on a piece of paper for you. But I can’t visualize it mentally. What’s wrong with me?”
Long Lost Temple Unearthed in the Mexican City of Atlixco
“After stumbling upon 1,000-year-old artifacts such as clay vessels, stone tools, and decorative ornaments, the team excavated stone walls and floors of the fabled teocalli, or temple, feet below the modern chapel.”
Kevin Phillips, 82, Dies; Political Analyst Predicted G.O.P. Resurgence
By Sam Roberts, The New York Times
“The titles of his books suggest a distinct trajectory — from his view of Republican hegemony as a source of stability and order to what the historian Alan Brinkley, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called ‘a nightmarish vision of ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, rampant greed and dangerous shortsightedness,’ as exemplified in the best-selling Phillips book he was reviewing, ‘American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century’ (2006).”
Scientists say they’ve confirmed evidence that humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought
By Katie Hunt, CNN
“However, she said that the new study’s findings overall “strongly indicate” a human presence in the Americas around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, a period between 19,000 and 26,000 years ago when two massive ice sheets covered the northern third of North America, reaching as far south as New York City, Cincinnati and Des Moines, Iowa.”