Savanna: 非洲稀树大草原，人类进化的摇篮。 Savanna Principle: 这个术语大概是一个日本人 Satoshi Kanazawa （看名字是日本人）发明的，从他的文章（有时只看题目）可以判断出他可能是最激进的进化心理学家了。或者说，他是一个“进化狂”。 这个法则指出，人对于进化过程中的常规事物，一般能很好地理解并作出适当的反应，譬如别人的白眼，譬如吃饭和交配，而对于后来出现的新生事物，就要靠人的智慧去适应和解决，这时，人往往会犯错误。并且，越是聪明人，对新奇事物越感兴趣，越容易接受，这就是聪明人常做糊涂事的主要原因（这是我指出的）。 因为人的心智能力大概在走出非洲前就大概定型了，而目前的环境和原始的生存环境比变化太大了，人不可能一下子完全适应自己亲手创造的全新世界。这个思想路子很对，这个术语也很合适，关键看怎么用，用得太泛滥就让许多人无法接受。他的许多观点，本人也不敢苟同。 人回到自己的家乡，会觉得很熟悉，如果把你放入非洲草原，也会感到很自然？非洲人可能没问题（开玩笑）。 人的文化本能当然必须以智慧为基础，猴群和类人猿都有自己的文化，但它们的文化毕竟是有限的，很少有创新。对于一些新奇的文化现象，接受它们需要智慧和勇气，个体的接受能力也和智商有关。从此出发， Kanazawa 先生变得很夸张，认为自由主义思想是聪明人促成的，认为国民的智商决定了国家的制度和意识形态，认为夜猫子大多是聪明人，认为暴力犯罪者大多是蠢货，等等，并有来源不明的图表。 的确，像双手双脚耳朵鼻子的功能，人的大脑没有什么特别的，足以适应非洲草原或更远的周口店地区，但在现代文明驯化下，常会会做出遗憾终生或死不瞑目的事情，也是自然而然的。 ================================= Pioneers of evolutionary psychology all recognized that the psychological adaptations are designed for and adapted to the conditions of the ancestral environment, not necessarily to the conditions of the current environment. I call these observations the Savanna Principle: The human brain has difficulty comprehending and dealing with entities and situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment.
看文章之前，非常希望这事和中国的产品质量无关。很可惜，美联社的新闻报道还是提及中国的产品有问题。质量就是生命，对于这个救命的药来说，一点都没有错。 青蒿素介绍： http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisinin http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVUMi8n37pNyXzx3YHl0TiJCekDAD9DO1I5G0 Bad malaria pills in Africa raise resistance fears By MARGIE MASON (AP) Feb 8, 2010 High rates of the most effective type of malaria-fighting drug s sold in three African countries are poor quality including nearly half the pills sampled in Senegal raising fears of increased drug resistance that could wipe out the last weapon left to battle a disease that kills 1 million people each year , according to a U.S. report released Monday. Between 16 percent and 40 percent of artemisinin-based drugs sold in Senegal, Madagascar and Uganda failed quality testing, including having impurities or not containing enough active ingredient , the survey found. Artemisinin-based drugs are the only affordable treatment for malaria left in the global medicine cabinet. Other drugs have already lost effectiveness due to resistance , which builds when not enough medicine is taken to kill all of the mosquito-transmitted parasites. If artemisinin-based drugs stop working, there is no good replacement and experts worry many people could die. It is worrisome that almost all of the poor-quality data that was obtained was a result of inadequate amounts of active (ingredients) or the presence of impurities in the product, said Patrick Lukulay, director of a nongovernmental U.S. Pharmacopeia program funded by the U.S. government, which conducted the survey. This is a disturbing trend that came to light. The study is the first part of a 10-country examination of antimalarials in Africa by the U.S. and the World Health Organization. It follows evidence from the Thai-Cambodian border that artemisinin-based drugs there are taking longer to cure malaria patients, the first sign of drug resistance. The three-country report also found bad drugs in both the public and private health sectors, meaning governments some buying medicines with donor funds are not doing enough to keep poor-quality pills out. All of the drugs tested from the public sector in Uganda, however, passed the quality tests. But 40 percent of the artemisinin-based drugs in Senegal failed. There are countries where donated medicines are not subjected to quality controls, they're just accepted, said Lukulay. There are countries in Africa where Chinese products have been donated and found to be unacceptable later in the public sector. A total of 444 samples of artemisinin-based combination drugs along with the antimalarial sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine to which resistance has already developed were first screened locally using visual inspection and basic lab tests. Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine is still used, mainly for preventative treatment for pregnant women. Nearly 200 samples then underwent full quality control testing in a U.S. laboratory to examine the amount of active ingredient present and drug purity. For both drugs, 44 percent from Senegal failed the full quality testing, followed by 30 percent from Madagascar and 26 percent from Uganda. While the study is not the first to assess the quality of antimalarials in Africa, it is the most rigorous and complete. Similar failure rates were found in previous work, but those did not focus specifically on artemisinin-based drugs. I am alarmed by these results because it means there are many cases of malaria that are being only partially treated, and that just guarantees acceleration of artemisinin drug resistance, said Rachel Nugent, deputy director for Global Health at the Center for Global Development, a U.S. think tank. It is the most comprehensive study out there on antimalarials and should be a wake-up call. Nugent was not involved in the study. In all three countries, the antimalarial brands collected from various areas and sectors tended to either do well across the board or poorly, which could prove helpful for governments working to ban low-grade drugs. Results from the other countries surveyed Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania have not yet been publicly released by the WHO. But Clive Ondari, who worked on the study for the WHO in Geneva, said failure rates in three of those countries were also significantly high. Ghana has already withdrawn more than 20 drugs from the market after receiving the initial results, Lukulay said. Associated Press Writer Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report. On the Net: http://www.usp.org/ Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
标签: 非洲
