Now on ScienceBlogs: Oldest Human-Made Object in Space
I am an evolutionist who studies all aspects of humanity in addition to the biological world, as I relate in my book Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives.
In addition to my academic research, I manage a number of programs and
websites for expanding evolution beyond the biological sciences in
higher education(EvoS),
public policy formulation (The Evolution Institute),
community based research (Binghamton Neighborhood Project)
and the study of religion (Evolutionary Religious Studies).
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
Scientists who write for the general public must be constantly on their guard. It's so easy to depart from scientific mode and become just another talking head, opining on topics that one knows nothing about. So it is with Jerry...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 8:42 AM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
The rehabilitation of group selection took another step with the publication of a commentary titled "Eight Criticisms Not to Make About Group Selection" in the journal Evolution. The authors are Omar Eldakar, my former PhD student currently at the University...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 10:09 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
The March 24 issue of Nature includes 5 responses to the critique of inclusive fitness theory by Martin Nowak, Corina Tarnita, and Edward Wilson published earlier in Nature. One of the responses has 137 co-authors, illustrating the degree to which...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 2:22 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
So far I have paid homage to George Williams for his clear thinking about adaptation and natural selection, including his principle for evaluating whether a trait counts as a group-level adaptation (see part I). George was wrong when he made...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 8:11 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
The newest effort to place individualism on an evolutionary foundation is led by Alan Grafen and Andy Gardner at the University of Oxford. Their stated purpose is to develop a mathematical framework whereby natural selection leads toward the optimization of...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 9:43 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
Individualism according to Williams' Principle is dead but another version of individualism is also part of George's legacy. At the time, no one fully appreciated that the two versions are different and incompatible with each other. Some things are only...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 10:18 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
In addition to showing how to identify a group-level adaptation (see part I), George Williams also made a strong empirical claim: Individual-level selection is almost invariably stronger than group-level selection. Putting his empirical claim together with his principle, he concluded...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 4:57 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
The death of George C. Williams last September coincided with an article that Elliott Sober and I were writing on the significance of his work. The article, titled "Adaptation and Natural Selection Revisited" has now been published in the current...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 11:54 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Atheism as a Stealth Religion
Imagine playing chess with someone who insists on continuing after his king has been taken. Or imagine a basketball game where the losing team insists on continuing after the final buzzer has sounded. These vignettes are so absurd that if...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 3:25 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Truth and Reconciliation in Group Selection
George Williams, the man whose name will forever be associated with the rejection of group selection in the 1960's, passed away on September 8. He previously suffered from Alzheimer's disease, so his voice has not been heard for a number...
Posted by David Sloan Wilson at 9:07 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Orac 02.14.2012
Tim Lambert 02.01.2012
Jason Rosenhouse 02.12.2012
Orac 01.26.2012
ERV 11.26.2011
