Behold, again: Toxoplasma

[elfismiles]

Toxoplasmosis_Robert_Sapolsky.AVI
37:28 - 1 year ago
Here's a talk by Robert Sapolsky at this year's NASW conference.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5251919592

[slomo]

I am suspicious of reductionist explanations for behavior. If the prevalence of toxoplasma infection is so high, then there must be other causal factors involved in resistance and therefore the infection itself.

It is easy to ascribe correlates between biochemistry and behavioral tendencies, but causal inference is much more difficult. Even intervention studies that establish a link between manipulated neuron activity and particular cognitive experiences (e.g. the "God neuron") cannot explain how such neurochemical activity might be naturally triggered in situ. Such contextual explanations are unnecessary if your goal is to develop pharmacological agents or other types of intervention. However, they still fail to tell us what it means to be human. Unfortunately, the goal of such articles seems to be exactly that, to suggest to us that there is a mechanistic explanation (as opposed to correlate) for everything we do. Depressed? Seratonin deficiency (have some prozac). Reckless? Toxoplasma infection (have some powerful antiprotozoan agent).

[Simulist]

I am suspicious of reductionist explanations for behavior.

Suspicion can be due to a neurotransmitter imbalance requiring a certain je ne sais quoi.(1) Have you tried Embrace™: "The highly Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor for highly selective adults?(2)

_________
(1) We're really not sure how it works, but the laboratory animals we tested it on all showed significant signs of improvement after we stopped torturing them with some of our other tests.

(2) Embrace™ has been clinically proven to decrease suspicion in certain susceptible adults who are already trusting-enough to buy it. Embrace™ can increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in adults with no prior history of psychiatric disorders. Embrace™ should never be taken if you're pregnant, not pregnant, more than seven grams overweight or underweight, or have a history of malpractice litigation in your family background. Any link between Embrace™ and persistent hair growth on the bottom sides of your feet has never been demonstrated in clinical findings that we embrace.

[Wombaticus Rex]

slomo -- if I'm reading this right, there is no cure and no treatment for what toxo does to your amygdala. It is micro-surgery.

My own interest in toxo is morbid fascination, rather than a cause (and implied fix) for human problems.

Besides, we all know the real cause of mental illness: the human brain.

[slomo]

slomo -- if I'm reading this right, there is no cure and no treatment for what toxo does to your amygdala. It is micro-surgery.

My own interest in toxo is morbid fascination, rather than a cause (and implied fix) for human problems.

Besides, we all know the real cause of mental illness: the human brain.

Well, yeah, I was waxing a bit poetic. It was easier to write flowing text with just the word "antiprotozoan".

As you are no doubt aware, my schtick is that, while I accept the fruits of mechanistic science as descriptions of the physical universe and physically mediated causes, I view such descriptions as causally incomplete. Consciousness (in my view) is the primordial precursor to the physical universe, and therefore causally trumps physical mechanisms. Usually it doesn't matter, but for interfaces between purely physical phenomena and higher-order effects (for example the mammalian brain) it matters quite a bit. What I worry about is humans disavowing responsibility for their own cognitive states by accepting mechanistic explanations provided by institutions that may or may not have their best interests at heart.

[FourthBase]

Bump. Or, "meow!"

Does anyone know a way to make quick macro memes on a tablet? Is there a site where you can just input a pic and text, that is compatible with an old Kindle Fire? Because I want to make a "I Can Has Toxoplassma?" one, or something.

[FourthBase]

Do any frogs or toads carry any brain parasites?

[FourthBase]

So I have been prescribed, and will faithfully take for one month, Zyprexa/olanzapine. Antipsychotics are supposed to be able to kill toxoplasma. Joke's on the shrinks, though. A bold mouse is in the house, and poops all over the kitchen counter. So, as one toxoplasma goes, another toxoplasma arrives.

[82_28]

Do you happen to have a cat or two? The mice will be scared out of there right quick. I lived in a building that had a problem with rodents but I was the only tenant with a cat. I saw zero rats or mice. They don't necessarily kill them, they just fuck around with them so they stay away.

Having said that, I wouldn't take it if I were you. I just checked out the side effects. Not worth it, I think. But go for it, if you think it will help. I do know that pregnant women should not handle litter boxes. So there is that.