jrv--i totally agree about not taking anyone from mit too seriously when they talk about things related to human beings, there's an inherent disjoint with reality.

still. you can't beat him for a source of wildly sensationalist tidbits like that one though. it's worth it for most people to at least check out something from the guy, zinn too, as a wildly different frame of reference with the caveat not to make prophets outta them. i'll give him credit for being intuitive and accessible enough to appeal to a larger audience with something different than the nightly news.