John Wilkins
evolvingthoughts
Posts by this author
February 16, 2009
Myth 3: Darwin was actually a Lamarckian
This one is subtle. It implies that Darwin, because he lacked a Mendelian account of heredity, was not actually a "true" (or Neo-)Darwinian. The error depends on the extent of what is named as a school of thought in science and why.
As far as I know, the…
February 13, 2009
Truism 6: Apart from physical kinds like basic particles, everything is in flux
Scholia: If we know things, we know them as temporary objects. An "object" is thus something within which change doesn't trigger a change of equivalence class.
We know changing things by knowing the rate of change, and…
February 12, 2009
So today, which is in the antipodes (we being so far ahead of you northern western types) the 200th birthday of an obscure British naturalist gentleman, we address this myth:
Myth 2: Darwin did not explain the origin of species in The Origin of Species
Here's some folk claiming just that:
One of…
February 12, 2009
This doesn't surprise me in the slightest, but it turns out that a number of widely quoted sayings of Darwin are, in fact, invented. I would not be surprised to find out they are taken from reviews and other authors' summaries of Darwin.
February 12, 2009
In the Descent of Man, Darwin cites a paper published about 5 years earlier by W. R. Greg, which argues that natural selection is not active among humans (or, as the convention had it then, "Man"). It is most interesting that he does, because Greg is the intellectual father of all those who think…
February 12, 2009
The University of Sydney is covered with modern buildings, but it also has a few that date back to the 1850s. As it happens I'm located in one. It has no heating, cooling, or internal toilets, but look at it:
My office is the two windows to the right, on the floor above the arch. I don't know if I…
February 11, 2009
Oh, I forgot, due to the lack of internets at home, to link to my essay that I mentioned before:
Not Saint Darwin, in Resonance [PDF]
Consider this my "death of Darwin" piece.
February 10, 2009
We are going to hear a lot about Darwin this year, especially this month for his birthday (happy 200th, Chas. You don’t look a day over 150) and in November for the sesquicentenary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. And you will hear or read repetitions of a number of common myths…
February 10, 2009
Theologians can be monumentally stupid when they look at things through their doctrinal spectacles, especially when it comes to science. Since they think everything is theological, it must have a theological standing, either good or bad, and so they will undergo the most amazing gymnastics to…
February 9, 2009
I think Disney has a lot to answer for with all this miscegenation.
February 9, 2009
Well, on Thursday night I was incredulous at a lecture by Steve Jones. On Friday night I met the fascinating Richard Grant from Our Competitor Blog Network, Nature Network. On Saturday I had a lovely lunch with my new colleagues at Sydney, and then proceeded to nearly drown while skin diving (…
February 4, 2009
So there's a rather livid article in the Independent by Johann Hari, titled "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?"
Starting in 1999, a coalition of Islamist tyrants, led by Saudi Arabia, demanded the rules be rewritten. The demand for everyone to be able to think and speak freely failed…
February 4, 2009
I move into a new place and less than three days later, it gets bombed. Well, strictly a place around the corner got bombed. I slept right through it. Seems someone doesn't like the Hell's Angels. I had no idea their clubhouse was nearby (not that it bothers me. I'll leave them alone if they leave…
February 3, 2009
"Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution" (Mark S. Blumberg)
This book came to me well recommended, and as far as the content goes, I am very impressed. The writing style, however, and the intended audience, are at odds with each other.
Blumberg is a developmental…
February 2, 2009
... but my furniture, clothes and importantly bedding aren't. So I sleep on the floor tonight. Also I'm having horrible times trying to get the University of Sydney's IT to give me access (it seems not to like Google Mail or Firefox). So blogging and replies will be slow for a bit. Sorry.
Later:…
January 30, 2009
There is an extensive literature on essentialism in the natural sciences, including recent work by Brian Ellis, Joseph Laporte and others arguing that it is time to reintroduce the notion of essentialism. This follows the raising of essentialism in the philosophy of language by Hilary Putnam in the…
January 30, 2009
David Chalmers and his student David Bourget at the Australian National University have developed a new resource: PhilPapers. This is a hot list to online versions of (so far) over 188,000 items in current philosophy. I checked my own papers and they were all there (something Thompson International…
January 30, 2009
Ron Amundson is a philosopher and historian of biology at the University of Hawai'i - Hilo who has done some great work in my field. So I was greatly amused and more than a little sympathetic to see this disclaimer linked to from Leiter's blog:
Metaphysics DISCLAIMER
Phil 310, Metaphysics, is a…
January 26, 2009
If you happen to be near the University of Guelph, then not only is Massimo Pigliucci giving a talk there, but there's this event by my friend and former colleague, Stefan Linquist:
January 26, 2009
An excellent fisking by Johnny at Ecographica is here - including the cover that New Scientist should have used...
More from Larry at Sandwalk here, on the cover and the intent of the article. Marco F at Leucophaea has a blog in Italian that I think says complimentary things about the critics […
January 24, 2009
It came as an email. Then it was on the Seed Bloggers Forum. Now it's on my frigging Facebook - they really want me to answer this:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." And on Tuesday…
January 23, 2009
this makes you laugh out loud:
It's even relevant to this blog...
January 23, 2009
There's been a slew of "Darwin was wrong" and "Evolution is more complicated" stories in the media lately. It's nearing Darwin day so simple minded media hacks can be explained as needing to find the requisite "drama" in their "stories". But the real picture is a lot more nuanced, and ultimately a…
January 22, 2009
It has started, downplaying the unpleasant aspects of Nobel laureate Carleton Gadjusek's life. An obituary (paywall) in Nature has what is a rather positive overview of the man who discovered that kuru, which we now know as a prion disease like Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, was transmissible. It fails…
January 22, 2009
If I have seemed a little distracted and unresponsive lately it's because I have been using an old clunker of a half dead laptop. I received my new employ's Macbook yesterday and spent pretty much the rest of the day migrating to the new beast. I'm still in the process of moving to Sydney - which…
January 20, 2009
It's nearly 4 am here so a quick note: The whole thing looked and sounded like a very twee Protestant church service, including the "Lord of the Dance" crapola barely redeemed by the performers.I was waiting for the puppet show for the kids...
[Later note] Okay, maybe I was a bit jaded. I find the…
January 20, 2009
Linked in the comments of the latest Australian-bashing by that cold bastard in Minnesota, comes this piece by Douglas Adams Jeremy Lee on how dangerous Australia is. I want all you foreigners to read it in case you ever decide to move here and raise the rental princes. I've reformatted it below…