Eavesdropping in #Nicotine

[T_Bone]

Learn something new every day...

03:54:45 [chopped_pork] neither pigeons
03:55:00 [SmackleFunky]
03:55:21 [SmackleFunky] saw a white one the other day...
03:55:25 [hyriand] bbl..or not.. who knows..
03:55:28 [SmackleFunky] It was very...white
03:56:43 [I am David] a white what?
03:56:56 [diemaco] you pidgeon racists!
03:57:32 [SmackleFunky] umm, no... thats not racist
04:09:48 [I am David] hmmmm
04:11:31 [cthulhu-lama] pigeonphobe ?
04:12:34 [ParleMoi] pigeonphobia !
04:12:43 [ParleMoi] the disease of the age
04:12:48 [cthulhu-lama] btw: it's probably appropriate that white pigeon^Wdove is the symbol of peace
04:17:22 [SmackleFunky] it *so* wasn't a white a pidgeon that was the symbol of peace
04:18:22 [diemaco] put 2 white doves into a cage and the next morning theres only one left .. they are pure EVIL
04:18:44 [I am David] thats really peaceful
04:19:48 [SmackleFunky] uhh, put 2 white doves in a cage and the next morning there is 4 more
04:19:55 [cthulhu-lama] IIRC, konrad lorenz did that research. pigeons don't have any inborn violence inhibitors, so when they get violent, they get *really* violent ...
04:20:18 [diemaco] 2 of the same gender .. what now einstein
04:21:07 [SmackleFunky] meh, burn the cage
04:21:07 * SmackleFunky chooses sleep
04:21:52 [cthulhu-lama] as opposed to predators, which have inborn programs to stop when fighting the member of same species

[T_Bone]

I wonder if this can be identified by a gene? reminds me of A Clockwork Orange.

[Floid]

Probably nowhere near a single gene, but the current state of 'genetic engineering' revolves around searching out keystones (or weak links) to take out or put in and control complex expression.*

It's almost entirely like altering one byte in a binary, but with protein expression instead.

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In other news, makes a good allegory for our concept of 'peace' held since the symbols were developed: the state you hold when not imposing the Powell Doctrine.

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*In other words, castrate someone in Birkenau and you've probably reduced their aggression.  Knock out a gene necessary for hormone synthesis and you might achieve the same, of course, 'with some side effects.'  We are an annoyingly long way from knowing what the hell we're doing -- in any of medicine, pharmacology, genetics, or software -- to be able to select the 'best' solutions, vs. the only treatments, adjustments, or implementations we know of... but on the other hand, we do know quite a lot, enough to allow a thoughtful person to consider the adequacy or inadequacy of what we've got.  (Knock out a gene necessary for tumogenesis with a sole side effect of mild jock itch, and it's something of a no-brainer, at least until pollution from anti-itch cream production becomes a global concern.)

From a 'usability' perspective, we should all just lead pleasurable, free, and immortal lives from the get-go, but that's both thankfully and annoyingly impossible.