Fox

When people ask me if cats are smarter than dogs, I always say, “Well, cats do what they have to do to be card-carrying cats, and dogs do what they have to do to be card-carrying dogs.” Sometimes, if people see chimpanzees do something that birds can’t do, people will say, “See, chimpanzees are smarter than birds,” but it turns out that birds can do a lot of things that chimpanzees can’t do. No one says, “Oh, you see birds are smarter than chimpanzees.” As a biologist, I think comparative questions can be misleading. … [Read more...] about Are Nonhuman Animals More Moral Than Human Animals? Yes They Are

“It is now quite common among journalists to think of opinions not as arguments to be advanced, engaged with, and potentially refuted,” wrote Damon Linker, “but as a kind of viral propaganda with the power to convert readers.” That metaphor is particularly apt, but not just because social media has long been known as a method of “viral” communication, or even that it provides opportunities for “viral justice.” Given our heightened concern about viral contagion during a pandemic, our emotional attunement to all kinds of potential contaminants may be amplified, including in the moral realm.  … [Read more...] about The Apocalyptic Psychology of Mobs—and Media