1. The cholera example is even more fascinating when you drill down.
The bacteria “Vibrio cholerae” seems to actually have numerically common non-pathogenic forms and the ones with enterotoxin genes appear to have recieved them from bacteria targeting viruses. If I understand correctly, the genes are integrated (but dormant) within bacterial genomes with viral activation triggering their expression semi-speculative lit summary).
This is mostly in response to the focus here on habits and norms. I suspect that environmental effects like “mere proximity” to to have a lot more influence over people in general than they assume without factoring it in consciously. For myself, I tend to assume that if changes to my habits are to have any significant influence on me many of them must be focused around shaping and choosing environments that support the kinds of thinking and living that I want to do.
I’m still working on this process for myself and have few unambiguously positive results to report and the negative results are too embarassing to list and would take a lot of text to describe any in useful detail :-P
For lack of such text I’ll recommend Lady of Mazes for it’s exploration of themes around technology, “nearness”, social networks, medium-message distinctions, choice architecture, suggestions systems, personal character, political awareness, value-technology interactions, and having a life that is felt to be meaningful. This book is less accessable than Accelerando but, for me, it has had much more staying power.
1. The cholera example is even more fascinating when you drill down.
The bacteria “Vibrio cholerae” seems to actually have numerically common non-pathogenic forms and the ones with enterotoxin genes appear to have recieved them from bacteria targeting viruses. If I understand correctly, the genes are integrated (but dormant) within bacterial genomes with viral activation triggering their expression semi-speculative lit summary).
2. Keep in mine the fundamental attribution error.
This is mostly in response to the focus here on habits and norms. I suspect that environmental effects like “mere proximity” to to have a lot more influence over people in general than they assume without factoring it in consciously. For myself, I tend to assume that if changes to my habits are to have any significant influence on me many of them must be focused around shaping and choosing environments that support the kinds of thinking and living that I want to do.
I’m still working on this process for myself and have few unambiguously positive results to report and the negative results are too embarassing to list and would take a lot of text to describe any in useful detail :-P
For lack of such text I’ll recommend Lady of Mazes for it’s exploration of themes around technology, “nearness”, social networks, medium-message distinctions, choice architecture, suggestions systems, personal character, political awareness, value-technology interactions, and having a life that is felt to be meaningful. This book is less accessable than Accelerando but, for me, it has had much more staying power.