October 1998 Notebook Entries

October 1998 Notebook Entries

Notebook entry, October 17, 1998

About a month ago I received a very long email from a young woman who wanted to know how I got, what she considered to be, her dream job. "Do you get paid to do this?" she asked. Of course, I told her the truth. That I was a blue-collar worker who did not belong where he was by a long set of circumstances, but that I had to adapt to those circumstances, and was trying to change his life by presenting his true self and the passion that I felt about evolutionary psychology within the confines of this web site.

I was very impressed with her writing ability after visiting her web site. I could not believe that she could write as much as she could in one sitting, while I, on the otherhand, would have to take ten times as long to produce the same amount of output. I know that my brain has been set back by dysfunction's on the biological level, but I was very curious has to how her manic brain could produce so much output in a lucid, lineal fashion.

Her work is raw and reflects the socioeconomic evrionment in which she resides. She needs input from the books on my recommended reading list, but I could see the basis for greatness even in her raw state. I wanted a woman's point of view on my web site, and I decided, then and there, that I would help bring her into the fold of evolutionary psychology as best as I could. Opportunity knocks very infrequently, and then, only if you recognize the knock.

In exchange for mentoring by email, physical journals that I send her, and encouraging phone calls now and then, Jennifer is progressing nicely. In exchange, Jennifer will write 12 columns/essays/musings/vents over the coming months to give me the female evolutionary perspective that I want. She was very moved by the positional piece of Francis Fukuyama in the Sept/Oct 98 issue of Foreign Affairs about women and evolution and decided to base her first piece on that very subject.

I don't know where this will lead, nor what the course will take. I know that the lack of money that I can not pay her could be a factor. The modern medium of resource exchange is important to the locals in our daily struggle for dignity and respect. Lacking that, all I have is belief and faith that this will work out.

You may read Jennifer Goehring's first work: Women and Evolution: A Response to the Position Paper of Francis Fukuyama as Published in Foreign Affairs, Vol. 77, no. 5, Sept/Oct. 98 issue by clicking on the above link.

Notebook entry, October 14, 1998

Another small miracle has occurred: Scientific American has run a piece on evolutionary medicine in their November 1998 issue. The title of the article: "Evolution and the Origins of Disease", by Randolph M. Nesse and George G. Williams who have authored the book "Why We Get Sick?" The magazine gives us the sub heading, "The principles of evolution by natural selection are finally beginning to inform medicine." How so helpful of us evolutionists.

I suppose that I should not whine, as the magazine is one our more premiere science magazines that write to a larger non-scientific audience, and hence, the word evolution is being spread around. But, I'm still pretty upset about their attack on evolutionary psychology in their Nov. 95 magazine.

Notebook entry, October 13, 1998

Business Week October 19, 1998 issue has run a story under the International Outlook column telling us of the first high level talks in Shanghai on Oct. 14th between China and Taiwan. For some strange reason, the Chinese seem to be very sugary in their approach the Taiwan. That's a big change from 95 and 96 when Beijing hurdled missiles over the heads of people of Twain. I become a bit delusional, and want to think that perhaps my proposals with my China piece may have had something to do with it. Oh, well, one can always hope. In my China piece, I babble on about ways to unite China and Taiwan with proposals brought forward via an evolutionary perspective. You may read the China piece at: http://www.evoyage.com/China.htm

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