Eric Michael Johnson has a Bachelors degree in Anthropology and a Masters in Evolutionary Anthropology. He pursued his PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke before joining the University of British Columbia to complete a doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Science.
Journal of Human Evolution
Sociality, ecology and relative brain size in lemurs. JHE 2009 56(5):471-478.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Career or Family?: Maternal style and status-seeking behavior in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). AJPA 2008 135(S46):126
American Journal of Physical Anthropology Lack of inbreeding avoidance and reduction of alliance formation in matrilineally- housed bonobos (Pan paniscus). AJPA 2007 132(S44):137
Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig has a new article in The Nation entitled "How to Get Our Democracy Back." In the piece he challenges both the Right and the Left on the ineffective means to create real change in this country. Attempts to shrink government by conservatives or to reform government by liberals have been useless because the underlining problem has not been addressed: the power of corporate lobbies that control policy.
[P]olitics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance.
There is a growing consensus by both sides of the political spectrum that our current governmental system is broken. By taking this dirty money out of Congress it would do far more for democracy than mere reforms or reducing the size of government could ever accomplish. For more see FixCongressFirst.org.
As people who have been following the issue are well aware, there is a crisis of scientific literacy in the United States. Unscientific America may have had a poor explanation for why the problem exists, but it effectively announced the severity of the problem to a wide audience. To combat this problem it will take a a great diversity of tactics including education, popular culture, involved parenting, economics and political will. Everyone who cares about this issue should use the skills they have to both draw attention to the crisis of scientific literacy and seek positive solutions.
One problem I see is in the often rigid division between the humanities and the sciences on university campuses. While only about 25% of the US population graduates with at least a bachelor's degree, nearly all primary and secondary school students will be taught by someone with such a degree. The vast majority of teachers receive their degrees in education or humanities and are only required to take the minimum university requirements in math or science (81% of teachers in primary school and 74% in secondary major in one of those two areas). While this is bad enough for science education, less than 30% of math or science teachers in secondary education even majored in the very topic that they are now teaching to students. This means that the area of focus should be in the humanities, not the sciences, if we hope to address this problem at the academic level.
My favorite novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, once complained about the treatment of science fiction by critics in his book Wampa, Foma and Granfalloons:
I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ever since [publishing Player Piano], and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal.
Science fiction films have often received the same treatment. However, two of the surprise nominees for Best Picture this year are none other than James Cameron's Avatar and the South African alien apartheid action film District 9. While my money this year is on Precious, it's nice to see science fiction films getting the serious attention they deserve. Avatar received nine nominations (including Best Picture and Best Direction), District 9 racked four (including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay) while Star Trek grabbed four in the technical categories. While I maybetheonlyoneontheScienceBlogsnetworkwhodoesn'thaveareview of Avatar (though I hosted Four Stone Hearth that had a number of Avatar themed entries) I do have an in-depth review of District 9:
Inexplicably, a UFO appears over one of Earth's remote cities. Hovering a few hundred meters above the terrified citizens, a government mission to board the craft is executed only to find the strange beings living in disease and desperation. A decision is made to save their lives and relocate the aliens to the city's outskirts. In that moment, what seemed to be a compassionate action develops into an outdoor prison reminiscent of the worst crimes of colonialism.
While there are problems with both films, it's certainly nice to see some examples of smart science fiction having their file cabinets moved out of the outhouse.
Image: Gideon Mendel / The GuardianJournalist William Fisher of the Inter Press Service News Agency has just used my recent work on Haiti for his story on the need for transparency and equality in the development aid that the West provides to Haiti:
Journalist Eric Michael Johnson, writing in The Huffington Post, notes that "Haiti has a historically unhealthy dependence on foreign commerce and finance, from the colonial days of the sugar trade to the current assistance provided by developed countries."
"Now the same politicians and financial elites that helped create this mess are proposing an even larger programme following the same mode," he says.
The story goes on to quote academics and human rights officials who point out the long history of corruption and self-serving economic policy in how the United States and European countries interact with the island nation. Many of the organizations quoted I have been familiar with for some time and I'm very pleased to see their work in this area be made available to a larger audience.
Many of us self-styled journalists and bloggers lack formal training in what news reporting is really all about. Fortunately Charlie Brooker at BBC4 has this helpful report that can make even the novice journalist a professional reporter in no time. While this is primarily intended for TV journalists, I think there are some effective strategies that can still be gleaned from knowing just what professionalism is really all about.
This is a very comprehensive assault on the prevailing understanding of "social Darwinism." Eric Michael Johnson's essay is a bit too rambling at times, but it is very welcome and good reading nonetheless.
Readers of my book might remember that I have nothing but contempt for the term and the way it is used. The basic point is this: Social Darwinism -- as advocated by its supposed creator Herbert Spencer -- was essentially libertarian. Classical liberals like Spencer never embraced the term, it was used by progressive enemies of laissez-faire to denounce a hands-off approach to economics generally and the eugenic question in particular. The progressives -- whom Eric Goldman called "reform Darwinists" -- were the real eugenicists. But the reform Darwinists get airbrushed from history, while Spencer has been blamed for everything from American sterlization laws to Nazi horrors. It's welcome news that this intellectual slander is finally unravelling.
Probably the only thing he got right is that I have a tendency to ramble.
As I wrote yesterday in my piece for The Huffington Post, the history of Western financial involvement in Haiti has been one of growing the nation's textile industry despite the fact that 70% of Haiti's annual income comes from agriculture. By emphasizing programs such as HOPE and HOPE II, the United States has increased the profits of American companies, but the livelihood of Haitian workers has decreased at nearly the same rate.
[A] 2009 report by the Congressional Research Service found that "assessments of the effectiveness of Hope I, however, were disappointing." Since 2004 Haitian exports to the United States increased by 32% while, during the same period, the Haitian minimum wage declined by 36%. Haiti's current trade imbalance is enormous and the country relies exclusively on foreign sources for basic commodities such as food and oil.
Another critical element has been the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in tying development loans to privatization of the nation's infrastructure and eliminating subsidies to agriculture. As a result, the heavily subsidized American farmers are able to sell their products in Haiti more cheaply than local farmers. One unintended consequence has been that, in order to make ends meet, local farmers have continued to erode Haiti's already decimated forest land. Today it is estimated that Haiti's once lush forests have been reduced to a mere 3% of what they had been when Columbus first arrived on the island. What can be done to reverse this trend while, at the same time, allowing the already impoverished Haitian farmers to improve their conditions?
As people who have been following the issue are well aware, there is a crisis of scientific literacy in the United States. 
My favorite novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, once complained about the treatment of science fiction by critics in his book Wampa, Foma and Granfalloons:
