Marcus said he had been a PhD student of Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate. He said that he felt he had taken what Pinker had written and had expanded on it -- saying that humans are "pre-wired" (rather than "hard-wired") to act certain ways, but that their environment can change them. Most importantly, the few genes that create the brain allow us to be "re-wired" -- make it possible for us to either play out our florid genetic destiny or, due to the influence of our environment, come out entirely differently.
This is based just on the jacket copy and a 20-minute interview, but it's great to hear about someone working on the relationship between psychology and the human genome. This man Marcus has spent a lot of time talking to seven-month-olds, and he swears they're much smarter than we think.
He also said that now that he has tenure it's easier to concentrate on cross-disciplinary work that doesn't fit into any received category. This is a theme that has been hitting us in our collective noses for some time now. If you read the Christopher Reeve interview in the Nov. 10, 2003 New Yorker, you'll hear the same song. I can't find a link to it right now online, but here's a short quote:
Reeve believes that too many researchers lack a sense of urgency.
As Reeve became acquainted with the scientific community, he grew frustrated by the widespread careerism. "Professors with tenure submit a grant application to get a little bit of money to try to have a little bit more success, which would then get them another grant and than another few years to achieve another little bit of success, but not to launch a major preemptive strike to get rid of the whole problem," he said. Later, he added, "I want things to happen quickly. I certainly want to benefit within my lifetime. I don't want to get out of this wheelchair at the age of seventy-five. I am fifty-one, and am now very healthy, and would like to be out of the chair very soon. I'm not willing to resign myself to being an advocate for research that will benefit people only after I'm gone. I'm not that noble." He laughed, but it wasn't a joke.
So, there's some link here to internet policy ("My point is, and I do have one..."). It would be good to use some cross-disciplinary and somewhat risky approaches to thinking about online governance -- particularly when it comes to spam, identity, and security. That's where peer governance may come in -- more on that tomorrow.