"Additionally, many people I know with evolutionary or molecular genetics backgrounds privately share this opinion, but virologists generally strongly disagree."
I don't think that is very hard. if the lab leak hypothesis is true, virologists are villains of the 21st Century. Nobody wants to wear that badge. Further, legislatures are going to be forced to put major restrictions on approval of and funding for experiments by virologists. again, they don't want that.
Do you know any good books that explains the societal changes happening in India starting 1st century till "Islamic conquest of India" along the lines of preferably urbanisation, literacy, religion and technology? I'm more interested in knowing reasons why Indian kingdoms lag behind the Europe and middle east, and were unable to counter these conquests?
"Hating the Saxon: The Academic Battle Against The English Origin Story ... I think genetics has at least limited the parameter space of possibilities in terms of what happened in the past, but academic turf wars will never end."
I will lable you as a hopeless romantic about the state of play in the contemporary academy. here is the comment I posted at Grey Goose:
I don't know about what things are like in the UK these days. But, in the US the political atmosphere in the universities is choking and toxic. Genetics has become a real problem for the woke/PC crowd. After all, if trans-women are women as the slogan goes, chromosomes, the raw material of genetics, are irrelevant, and, indeed, inimical to the movement. Any knowledge derived from the study of chromosomes is white supremacist, colonialist, and transphobic. It follows therefore that such knowledge must be suppressed and its purveyors must be persecuted and driven from the sacred groves. So, the lead linked article is interesting if true, but it must never be mentioned again.
From your Unheard review of Peace, Poverty and Betrayal: A New History of British India: "The tragedy of a hasty partition, and the death of millions, can be attributed to these attitudes and policies."
And that Britain was bankrupt after its second World War in 30 years and headed into yet another one, the so called Cold War with the Soviet Union, which has to count as a major distraction.
I read John Keay some years back. I recall not liking it., but no more details than that Also I read the Wendy Doniger book " The Hindus: An Alternative History" and thought it was dreadful. Not for the reasons that professional Hindus assigned, but just because it gave me the impression of having been made up on the basis of texts that simply do not bear the weight of much historical analysis.
You're not on topic at all, you're just trying to direct readers to your site. Outside of an open thread where people are invited to post whatever, that is considered spammy.
"Your whole substack"? This is Razib's, not mine. You can see Razib commenting under his own account (clearly distinct from mine) under this post, but you plainly don't read things like names.
"Start learning" is a funny line from someone who spouts ignorance about whose blog he's commenting on, then says "Who cares" when called out on it. You are going to be judged based on how you behave, and your behavior has been repeatedly been that of someone who should be dismissed. You have not given any reason for anyone to take what you have to say seriously. As they used to say on the internet, you should "lurk more", reading instead of writing. Then perhaps you could demonstrate that you actually know something about the site you're commenting on and the readers of it, and that such people should bother to read you. But I doubt you will take such advice. Instead my guess is that you'll spout more off-topic rants fit for your own site, and eventually Razib will ban you for polluting his comments section (he's got less tolerance for idiots than me, though admittedly my blog has never been popular enough to give me a high volume of comments to moderate).
@ ART GALLERY - You may find this hard to believe, but posting, "wake ... up! Break free from the mind control" without telling me how my mind is being controlled or what truth I will discover at your site, doesn't make me click on any of the links. Rather the opposite.
one week ban for 'art gallery' for spamming the comments. if you do it again the ban will be permanent
"Additionally, many people I know with evolutionary or molecular genetics backgrounds privately share this opinion, but virologists generally strongly disagree."
Why this difference by background?
no idea.
I don't think that is very hard. if the lab leak hypothesis is true, virologists are villains of the 21st Century. Nobody wants to wear that badge. Further, legislatures are going to be forced to put major restrictions on approval of and funding for experiments by virologists. again, they don't want that.
A free subscription to Unsupervised Learning *is* a free lunch. It's just not a free multi-course dinner cum aperitif.
Do you know any good books that explains the societal changes happening in India starting 1st century till "Islamic conquest of India" along the lines of preferably urbanisation, literacy, religion and technology? I'm more interested in knowing reasons why Indian kingdoms lag behind the Europe and middle east, and were unable to counter these conquests?
not off the top of my head
"Hating the Saxon: The Academic Battle Against The English Origin Story ... I think genetics has at least limited the parameter space of possibilities in terms of what happened in the past, but academic turf wars will never end."
I will lable you as a hopeless romantic about the state of play in the contemporary academy. here is the comment I posted at Grey Goose:
I don't know about what things are like in the UK these days. But, in the US the political atmosphere in the universities is choking and toxic. Genetics has become a real problem for the woke/PC crowd. After all, if trans-women are women as the slogan goes, chromosomes, the raw material of genetics, are irrelevant, and, indeed, inimical to the movement. Any knowledge derived from the study of chromosomes is white supremacist, colonialist, and transphobic. It follows therefore that such knowledge must be suppressed and its purveyors must be persecuted and driven from the sacred groves. So, the lead linked article is interesting if true, but it must never be mentioned again.
BTW have you (Razib) commented on the underlying paper and how it impacts your earlier discussions of British genomics?
From your Unheard review of Peace, Poverty and Betrayal: A New History of British India: "The tragedy of a hasty partition, and the death of millions, can be attributed to these attitudes and policies."
And that Britain was bankrupt after its second World War in 30 years and headed into yet another one, the so called Cold War with the Soviet Union, which has to count as a major distraction.
I read John Keay some years back. I recall not liking it., but no more details than that Also I read the Wendy Doniger book " The Hindus: An Alternative History" and thought it was dreadful. Not for the reasons that professional Hindus assigned, but just because it gave me the impression of having been made up on the basis of texts that simply do not bear the weight of much historical analysis.
Thanks Razib. This is a treasure trove and I’m very thankful I stumbled upon your blogs. :)
And this is why I keep paying for your substack (and House of Strauss) no matter how ruthlessly I clear away the chaff
Do you have any thoughts on Autobiography of an Unknown Indian?
nope. had no idea about the book. thanks for putting on my radar
You're not on topic at all, you're just trying to direct readers to your site. Outside of an open thread where people are invited to post whatever, that is considered spammy.
"Your whole substack"? This is Razib's, not mine. You can see Razib commenting under his own account (clearly distinct from mine) under this post, but you plainly don't read things like names.
"Start learning" is a funny line from someone who spouts ignorance about whose blog he's commenting on, then says "Who cares" when called out on it. You are going to be judged based on how you behave, and your behavior has been repeatedly been that of someone who should be dismissed. You have not given any reason for anyone to take what you have to say seriously. As they used to say on the internet, you should "lurk more", reading instead of writing. Then perhaps you could demonstrate that you actually know something about the site you're commenting on and the readers of it, and that such people should bother to read you. But I doubt you will take such advice. Instead my guess is that you'll spout more off-topic rants fit for your own site, and eventually Razib will ban you for polluting his comments section (he's got less tolerance for idiots than me, though admittedly my blog has never been popular enough to give me a high volume of comments to moderate).
@ ART GALLERY - You may find this hard to believe, but posting, "wake ... up! Break free from the mind control" without telling me how my mind is being controlled or what truth I will discover at your site, doesn't make me click on any of the links. Rather the opposite.