Post: #1

Sexually transmitted diseases can actually affect the hosts behavior. Read more here.

Quote:Why would a sterile male cricket mate with an infertile female? On the surface, this behaviour makes no sense: sex takes energy and effort, and there’s nothing in it for either of these partners. Neither one can foster the next generation.

Shelley Adamo from Dalhousie University has the answer. Her team have shown that one particular insect virus can sterilise crickets, but also change their behaviour so they continue to mate with each other. By doing so, they pass the virus on to uninfected hosts.

This virus is the latest example of parasitic mind control—a topic that I’ve covered regularly on this blog, and that I spoke about at the recent TED2014 conference.

Scientists have now documented hundreds of such manipulators.

It isn't a huge leap to think that such diseases could also cause behavioral changes in humans. As John Durant noted on twitter, "The question is not whether STDs can alter the human brain and sexual behavior -- it's which ones and how."

I've also heard evolutionary biologists speculate that certain STDs will eventually evolve to make hosts more attractive. So you might sleep with someone because they have and STD that makes them hot.

I know it sounds like crazy sci-fi, but the science checks out. We already know about other brain parasites that affect behavior. Herpes attaches itself to the nervous system, making it a good candidate for altering behavior.

Crazy stuff.

Post: #2

No wonder why my mom is so crazy.

Post: #3

Here is the TED talk the author gave on parasites:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicida..._parasites

At the end, he talks about potential parasites in humans. Scary stuff.

I'm not sure how one would identify or screen for such parasites, but the one he mentions at the end I remember Joe Rogan saying was in a significant portion of the population of Brazil. If anyone has more info on that, let me know.

Post: #4

I wouldn't be surprised. Fascinating, though. I've mentioned this phenomenon here before:

/thread-32262-...#pid632196

Post: #5

This stuff really fucking creeps me out lol. I don't like to touch cats anymore after reading about the toxoplasmosis thing a while back. My understanding is you're more likely to get it from rare meat and dirt on your hands, but it still gives me a bad feeling. The majority (or at least a sizable minority) of the people in Brazil, France, Germany, and few other countries are infected with it.

This sort of thing is disturbing, I think, because it forces us to confront the illusion of personal autonomy and free will. If microbes can change our behaviors and thoughts, than how free and independent are we, really? I remember reading that the majority of the DNA in our bodies isn't even human, but is instead from the nearly countless bacteria that live in the digestive system among other places. The increasing scientific awareness that parasites/diseases can fundamentally alter our thinking and behavior is going to be a big deal in the coming decades. It all adds up to the realization that there isn't a discrete, independent "I" at the center of experience. We're not the separate, choice-making beings moving through space and time that we generally think we are. That's just a conceptualization that the mind creates. Determinism is likely the truth. Or at least the closest thing to it of our existing theories.

It sucks, sometimes profoundly so, to get a disease that affects the body. Its not "existentially terrifying" in the same way that brain-altering pathogens are, though. I guess it's because we tend to think of our minds as "us" and our bodies as secondary.

Post: #6

BTW that Wrath of Khan scene terrified me as a little kid. I couldn't make myself watch it again, haha...

Post: #7

(03-28-2014 12:21 PM)darklightdispatch Wrote:  This stuff really fucking creeps me out lol. I don't like to touch cats anymore after reading about the toxoplasmosis thing a while back. My understanding is you're more likely to get it from rare meat and dirt on your hands, but it still gives me a bad feeling. The majority (or at least a sizable minority) of the people in Brazil, France, Germany, and few other countries are infected with it.

This sort of thing is disturbing, I think, because it forces us to confront the illusion of personal autonomy and free will. If microbes can change our behaviors and thoughts, than how free and independent are we, really? I remember reading that the majority of the DNA in our bodies isn't even human, but is instead from the nearly countless bacteria that live in the digestive system among other places. The increasing scientific awareness that parasites/diseases can fundamentally alter our thinking and behavior is going to be a big deal in the coming decades. It all adds up to the realization that there isn't a discrete, independent "I" at the center of experience. We're not the separate, choice-making beings moving through space and time that we generally think we are. That's just a conceptualization that the mind creates. Determinism is likely the truth. Or at least the closest thing to it of our existing theories.

It sucks, sometimes profoundly so, to get a disease that affects the body. Its not "existentially terrifying" in the same way that brain-altering pathogens are, though. I guess it's because we tend to think of our minds as "us" and our bodies as secondary.

It's still logically possible to have both free will with deterministic elements. That said, the case for free will gets weaker by the day.

Post: #8

^ That's how I feel, too. I certainly don't want there not to be free will. It seems worse than death, in a way. Without free will, it's like "I" never really existed at all. My life was just a prerecorded movie I was watching, powerlessly, play out. Under the free will perspective, even if there's no afterlife or anything, at least we exist as individuals for a moment before disappearing.

Post: #9

So after seeing the TED, I researched a bit what food can kill parasites. There's medicin as well, but I always look for natural cures first. Apparently, once again, mr. raw garlic is a good aid in this!! Other that are good include: cloves, almonds and other nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, coconut oil (yep!), pommegranates, thyme, garlic, cayenne, ...

I think in general just take raw garlic cloves for a week on once a month is always a good idea. It kills all from fungus, parasites, bacteria, ...

Post: #10

This concept of bacteria and parasites changing our behavior is fascinating, and that coupled with Brain makes decisions before you even know it makes us indeed wonder about how free are we really.

Post: #11

(03-28-2014 02:30 PM)rottenapple Wrote:  I think in general just take raw garlic cloves for a week on once a month is always a good idea. It kills all from fungus, parasites, bacteria, ...

So glad I regularly eat raw garlic. It's one of those things that's good for everything.

Post: #12

This kind of stuff freaks me out..

Post: #13

I doubt it. Our brains are SO MUCH more complicated than a cricket. That's not to say that it's impossible, but I would like to see something like this on something like...hell a mouse, before I start worrying about it affecting a human

Post: #14

But wouldnt an sterilizing virus wipe out the next generation of carriers, thus defeating its own purpose?

Post: #15

I suppose it would if it spread too fast. But since crickets can lay hundreds of eggs that probably wouldn't happen. (It will depend how frequently they mate among other things. This could be modeled mathematically.)

Some viruses do indeed "burn themselves out." Ebola is one example where it kills so fast, it usually doesn't have a chance to spread too far.

Post: #16

That reminds me of the futurama episode where Fry is infected with parasites. The parasites actually made him more physically fit. It was a while ago so I'm not recalling everything that happened, but he got rid of them.

Post: #17

Altering behavior could mean being more destructive right ? Like people who eventually admit being HIV positive and still having unprotected sex with as many people as possible .

Post: #18

(03-28-2014 02:30 PM)rottenapple Wrote:  So after seeing the TED, I researched a bit what food can kill parasites. There's medicin as well, but I always look for natural cures first. Apparently, once again, mr. raw garlic is a good aid in this!! Other that are good include: cloves, almonds and other nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, coconut oil (yep!), pommegranates, thyme, garlic, cayenne, ...

I think in general just take raw garlic cloves for a week on once a month is always a good idea. It kills all from fungus, parasites, bacteria, ...

Good stuff, I eat a lot of garlic just by nature but also take garlic pills, also take echinacea and I think someoen on here turned me onto grapefruit seed oil which I believe kills parasites. If your traveling in countries where you can't drink the watr mix with your waterbottle, kinda a natural antibiotic I think.

Post: #19

Without following all links, it seems like this is a bit alarmist concerning the "sex" element.

After all, yes, perhaps sexually transmitted viruses have the potential to affect our behavior, but wouldn't that potential apply to viruses transmitted in other ways as well? I mean, is the research really showing this to be confined to sexually transmitted diseases specifically, or is that just how the information is being presented?

Don't get me wrong - I think this is extremely fascinating stuff. But if the latter is the case, I can't help but suspect a bit of fear-mongering going on with this issue.

Post: #20

just found a new survey, granted it's too small to really show anything definite, but it indicates that an std would not make a partner more attractive, but actually make him less attractive. Men with gonorrhea smell less than half as good as men without gonorrhea
http://www.livescience.com/17403-std-sme...rrhea.html