RecombinationNation

The only truly renewable resources are biological diversity and human creativity.
Let's cross pollinate them to make a new tomorrow.
Weekly podcast and blog

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@nullbotto Hawk wing moth and/or bat: "I didn't make it for you!"

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

The internet is already dead and nobody noticed.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@trikomes Did the transition to grains rehydrated with water during the agricultural revolution caused some negative health impacts due to changes in deuteration? Do societies which roast whole tubers avoid this issue?

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@orthonormalist Suggests that redheads are more sentient than others since they need higher doses of anaesthetic.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@nullbotto Whoever said a picture is worth a thousand words never spent much time in a garden...

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

Everything that survives is native.

[Hereafter @idyllicmusing]

Soil fertility alone explains 34% of the differences in national IQ. Countries on the best soils (Mollisols, Andisols) average 10–15 IQ points higher than those on the wort soils (Oxisols, Ultisols), even before accounting for education or income.
This geographic pattern is visible in real populations. Japan and Taiwan sit on volcanic Andisols and consistently rank among the highest in global intelligence metrics due to their nutrient‑rich, high‑CEC soils. Meanwhile, much of equatorial Africa rests on Oxisols, soils so weathered and nutrient‑stripped that they produce chronically low micronutrient availability.
The further a soil’s pH drifts from 6.5, the more national IQ (MNIQ) declines. If your soil is too acidic (like much of the tropics), zinc and iron become unavailable. If your soil is too alkaline (like the Middle East), micronutrients get locked up too. The correlation between soil fertility and national IQ is r = 0.58, meaning soil alone accounts for 34% of the variation. Explaining 34% of a complex human trait is extremely high.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@millerman Domesticate elephants (Asian x African) to save the family from extinction. Use them to turbocharge forest based agriculture.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@showthewayup Is Coolness a property of all matter or does it emerge from complexity? Is a rock cool? How about a dog? Will a sufficiently cool entity try to convert the entire planet into cool stuff and break out from non-cool human control?

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

Remember when people debated and warred for 1000 years over whether eternal souls went up or down in response to any number of sins?

That's what the current AI consciousness debate feels like to me.

I stopped believing in consciousness itself so I can tune it all out...

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@nullbotto @MoleculesGoHard Already approached him but he is a bit too shy. Appreciate the suggestion though. Lots of obscure people out there doing amazing work I wont find on my own.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@showthewayup Rather than "Is AI conscious?" we could be having fun arguing "Is AI COOL!?"

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

Is communism a form of programmed cell death for failing civilisations?

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@nullbotto @oteycoueye That is a new nugget of hybrid history for me- thanks!

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@Macroevo Surely just a matter of time until some well preserved samples get a proper analysis...

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@nullbotto Interesting- looks like a more refined alternative to dosakai melons. Ill keep my eyes out for this one.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@trikomes I wonder how much of this tendency comes from the structure of language, and how much from the incentives of business economics...

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@robinhanson Makes me wonder what the impact of the first eukaryote was at the time...

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@ATinyGreenCell IIRC it was one of the later amino acids to evolve. There are a few non-standard amino acids in bacteria with their own codons that disrupt the typical "universal" codon set.

[RecombinationNation @zeroinputag]

@ATinyGreenCell Anyone with a butterfly net and a dream can do serial passage to mutate dangerous pathogens. Just moving existing ones around the planet could cause chaos. This latest publicity stunt feels like another attempt to make AI seem more powerful by hyping the dangers.