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Carrion Luggage
Carrion Luggage
 
Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
September 17, 2025 at 10:52am September 17, 2025 at 10:52am
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This article from Big Think is a few years old now, but I only found it recently:
First issue: the headline. Suppose they take a poll of 100 people. 99 of them say they're extroverts. You're the one self-described introvert. Headline: You're an extrovert. Reality: you're an outlier.
Further, judging by the headline alone, in which direction does the arrow of causality point, if any? Are you the way you are because you live in a certain place? Or do people with a given personality type tend to prefer the place? Or is it just correlation?
You will, of course, have to go to the article to see the maps and graphs and charts and whatnot.
Does where you live have any bearing on the kind of personality you have? Science says yes, and these maps show how.
"Science" says no such thing. One particular branch of science is trying hard to make "yes" happen.
“Psychogeography” is already taken — basically, it’s a fancy term for “walking while moody.” “Geopsychology,” however, is still available. And it sounds just about right to describe the systematic study of regional differences in the distribution of personality traits, especially since those differences do indeed seem to be “robust.”
Already, I can see a problem: You live in, say, a place associated with a high degree of emotional stability. But you're in the minority, not very stable at all. Someone who's well-versed in this new "science" (which actually appears to be akin to an actuary in insurance) might assume that you're emotionally stable. You can easily prove them wrong. You might end up in prison for it, though.
The usual caveat applies: None of these traits should be taken in isolation, neither for cause nor effect. Studies — of twins, for instance — show that these characteristics are about equally influenced by nature and nurture.
This sounds like astrology. "Your sun sign should never be taken in isolation. Your personality is also affected by your moon sign, rising sign, the position of the planets relative to each other, etc."
At least they admit that each trait is on a spectrum, not flipped like a coin; that's one of my major issues with INTJ tests.
Also interesting is the finding that while four out of five traits remain stable into old age, “agreeableness” does show variation as subjects get older, showing that people tend to become more compassionate, cooperative, and trusting as they age.
Are you fucking kidding me? Us oldies are cantankerous and grumpy.
On these maps, orange means higher than average, blue means lower. Darker means greater distance from the average.
Oh, good, an explanation of the colors. I thought I was going to have to get grumpy about that, too. Still, would it have killed them to put a legend on the graphics themselves?
The article goes into more details of the geographic distribution. It is, I must emphasize, mostly limited to the contiguous US. There's also a quick overview of the UK at the end. I'd be curious to see data for other countries.
Do I trust it? No. Does it show promise? Maybe. Is it useful? Eh, I don't know. It's like calling anyone from Gen-X a slacker. Sure, many of us are, and I, for one, have embraced that description. But how much of that is actually me (I was a damn hard worker when I was younger), and how much is a self-fulfilling prophecy? |
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