opinion of James Watson

[freepcrusher]

He discovered DNA sixty years ago and was seen as a boy wonder, since he was only in his mid 20s. As of late, he's made a lot of snarky comments about how warm climates increase sex drive, how homosexuality should be researched as possibly being genetic and how he is inherently gloomy about the future of Africa. Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

[Mr. Smith]

Rosalind Franklin discovered DNA,not him.

He's just a credit taker with a decent enough mind to put the pieces together.

Option 2 (normal)

[MaxQue]

An usurper.

[Oakvale]

Leave.

Rosalind Franklin discovered DNA,not him.

Not the case.

[angus]

opinion of James Watson

The gay roommate of Sherlock Holmes?  He was, as Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about him, "as thin as a lathe and as brown as a nut... with a thick, strong neck and a small moustache."

What's not to like.  FG.

[Хahar 🤔]

I'm not a huge fan of Florida State, and he's not as good as he was last year, but I think the concerns with him are overblown.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

That would have been the worst possible outcome. For anything.

[freepcrusher]

I'm not a huge fan of Florida State, and he's not as good as he was last year, but I think the concerns with him are overblown.

you're thinking of  Jameis Winston

[freepcrusher]

Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

That would have been the worst possible outcome. For anything.

why?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

That would have been the worst possible outcome. For anything.

why?

Evolutionary psychology is horrible and James Watson is horrible. Combining them would create an axis of...well, not an axis of evil, because Watson isn't all bad and there are only two of them, so more like a binary star of awful.

[Modernity has failed us]

I'm not a huge fan of Florida State, and he's not as good as he was last year, but I think the concerns with him are overblown.

you're thinking of Jameis Winston

you're a murderer.

[freepcrusher]

Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

That would have been the worst possible outcome. For anything.

why?

Evolutionary psychology is horrible and James Watson is horrible. Combining them would create an axis of...well, not an axis of evil, because Watson isn't all bad and there are only two of them, so more like a binary star of awful.

ok but why is evo-psych horrible?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Sometimes, I think he should have gotten into evolutionary psychology as opposed to biology.

That would have been the worst possible outcome. For anything.

why?

Evolutionary psychology is horrible and James Watson is horrible. Combining them would create an axis of...well, not an axis of evil, because Watson isn't all bad and there are only two of them, so more like a binary star of awful.

ok but why is evo-psych horrible?

Well, the likes of you wouldn't consider it horrible, obviously.

[Deus Naturae]

So...why don't you like evolutionary psychology? Do you not believe that the way humans think is shaped by the environments we evolved in?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

So...why don't you like evolutionary psychology? Do you not believe that the way humans think is shaped by the environments we evolved in?

Oh, no, I think it's pretty trivial that it is, but I don't understand how a discipline that's shown itself to be capable of using just-so stories to explain pretty much any possible reaction to a situation including ones that are mutually exclusive, and many of whose most popular and visible just-so stories posit gender roles among our 'savanna ancestors' that just happen to mimic those of 1950s America, can be trusted to explore that. (Also, not everything that evolves does so because it is adaptive.) It's one of those disciplines where I don't deny the validity of the underlying theory but think the practice is more trouble than the theory is worth.

[Dr. Cynic]

Well, my great-great-great grandfather was a sailor and he died at age 29 in 1844, so I don't really know anything else about him..... That was the James Watson you were talking about, wasn't it? Or maybe it was his father, also James Watson and also a sailor?

[freepcrusher]

thought i would bump this thread. It seems he's being the target of a two minute hate.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

geez my writing style four years ago was insufferable

[anvi]

As has been mentioned, Rosalind Franklin deserves the credit. 
Watson did a good job of folding cardboard...with someone's help.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

geez my writing style four years ago was insufferable

I enjoyed it.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Both 1 and 2, actually.

[Crumpets]

Leave.

Rosalind Franklin discovered DNA,not him.

Not the case.

IIRC no one person really "discovered" DNA, but what Watson ans Crick are credited with was discovering its double-helix structure. That discovery was based almost entirely on data stolen from Rosalind Franklin.

Could Franklin have discovered it independently of Watson and Crick? Maybe. We'll never know. We know that without her, their model would likely have been a single molecular "pole" with rotating spindles along its length. And it's not like Watson had ever gone out of his way to make this clear.