Timothy Bates
@timothycbates
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Researching intelligence, conscientiousness, moral foundations & human attainment. Lots of individual differences & genetics
Edinburgh
Joined September 2011
I think this is the first report of the heritability of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is surprisingly heritable! Second, it reflects two underlying biological systems: 1) A flat moral circle, treating self, family and strangers as substitutable. 2) Treating people as means,
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🧵1) New paper out in Bioinformatics! We introduce the QTrait function, a method to assess the external validity of genetic factor models in Genomic SEM: https://t.co/T4gsYEm6Bg
academic.oup.com
AbstractMotivation. Within the genomic structural equation modelling (genomic SEM) framework, common factors are often used to index shared genetic etiolog
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The flowers of Remembrance. Hour after hour an unceasing pilgrimage of bereaved mothers, wives, daughters, and sweethearts lay floral offerings on the Cenotaph. Armistice Day, 1920.
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Delightful interview of Watson and Crick. Jim comes across as witty and charming as I remember him when he used to visit us in Oxford. I only met Francis Crick twice, too briefly for me to get over being over-awed. https://t.co/8IPpaDSRs5
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From my biography of Francis Crick, this is in my view the most thrilling moment in all of science and it was all Watson's. Perhaps nobody will ever have a moment as significant as this: There was one more eureka moment to come, and it would be all Watson’s. Crick and Watson
One more comment on Jim Watson. When I was writing Francis Crick's biography, Jim was consistently generous with time and material, even Crick's furious personal attacks on Jim during the row over the writing of the Double Helix. He really did value the truth above all else.
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Would you want to pick the height and IQ of your kids? Advances in genetic testing are giving parents incredible new insights into the traits of their future children. @Brook Silva-Braga goes inside the company that's pushing the ethical and scientific boundaries.
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@herasight featured on CBS Saturday Morning, including our technological breakthrough enabling polygenic embryo testing from a routine test widely available in the US and worldwide (PGT-A). Effective polygenic testing for IQ and many diseases is coming to an IVF clinic near you.
Would you want to pick the height and IQ of your kids? Advances in genetic testing are giving parents incredible new insights into the traits of their future children. @Brook Silva-Braga goes inside the company that's pushing the ethical and scientific boundaries.
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I highly recommend James Watson’s “Avoid boring people” - it’s a wonderful read and packed with great advice for anyone embarking on their own path as Prof Watson did. RIP
"He wrote the greatest molecular biology textbook ever! All the other ones are just a bunch of commie gobbledygook! And in this house, Dr. James Watson is a hero!"
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Rest in piece James. You were one of the most important biologists in history and you will be remembered fondly for your contributions, and as someone who refused to kowtow to false consensus.
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BREAKING: James Watson, who helped discover the structure of DNA, has died at 97.
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Our new paper on intelligence & molecular biology just published:
icajournal.scholasticahq.com
By John Gargus, Richard Haier. Toward the goal of increasing human intelligence, this review discusses an evolutionary perspective about why brain metabolism and energy use may underlie individual...
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Candidate for the 2025 prize for assembling 40 words without repetition, hesitation or a single word of truth.
Typical psych profile of a tech oligarch: Born rich but with below average intelligence. Anxious, anhedonic, antisocial, disagreeable, humorless, disliked by others. Bland on the surface, but driven by an implacable mania and shrewd aptitude for making money. Entirely amoral.
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Proportionality (see also @JonHaidt) is sharing rewards based on contribution, proportional punishment, helping others in the cooperating group when this greatly outweighs the cost of the help. And an instinct for preserving free choice of who we partner with (so treating others
journals.plos.org
Mutualism–the disposition to cooperate in ways that benefit both actor and recipient–has been proposed as a key construct in the evolution of cooperation, with distinct adaptations for 1) partner...
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Anyone who thinks compassion is our master emotion should read @paulbloomatyale "Against Empathy". Compassion was gets us to N=30 groups of closely related people. In city life with strangers, it works against us. Aristotle puzzled over what is needed to live in a city of
As a neuroscientist currently writing a book on the evolution of the human brain, I can tell you that this is the exact opposite of the truth. It is the prosocial skill of empathy that has led to human cooperation and all our success. Why does he spout such utter drivel?!
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Done IVF or considering IVF? Sign up here: https://t.co/uyI4fR2Xyj Herasight has already served people from 11 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. Now we’re offering a 90% discount to the first qualified customer from each country in the world (T&Cs apply).
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The fall of "When prophecies fail": Another social psychology classic turns out to be based on fabrications and lies. In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. In “When Prophecy Fails “ (1956), the
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The most common traits I’ve noticed in true friends: They tell you the truth. They try to make your life easier. They’re happy for you when things go well. The rarest gift in life is a true friend.
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Big bet on making the 20-something years massively productive again. A 20% increase in life - with compounding and ambition maybe a doubling in lifetime productivity and achievement!
UATX will never charge tuition. And we will never take government money. Here's why. Graduates spend decades shouldering debt for hollow credentials. This debt influences every decision they make: What job to take. Where to live. When to marry. When to have children. Some will
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“I am a thorn in the side of the would be censors because they chose to pick on the wrong guy.” After Toby Young was cancelled, he set up The Free Speech Union. Since its formation, The FSU has fought over 4,500 cases and has had a succession of victories. Join The Free Speech
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What makes smart people know more is that they engage in effortful study and rehearsal: they use, manipulate, and study knowledge. In Ebbinghaus terms, this keeps t=0. As Jeff Bezos would say, “[for smart people] every day is day one.”
@timothycbates Shared environment becomes insignificant once you reach adulthood (see Willoughby et al 2021, Briley & Tucker-Drob 2013, etc). There's lots of interventions that ""work"" on children. Early childhood interventions are the only thing that aren't a complete wash in the long run.
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