The Chronicle of Higher Education “Campus Sustainability: It’s About People” Think about it: the civil rights movement and the environmentalist movements were born in the same era. Which has accomplished more in the last fifty years?
A Minor Post, Articles, SustainabilityThe New York Times “Why We Lie“
A Minor Post, Articles, Behavior, Communication, Human EvolutionThe Brian Lehrer Show “Inequality and Stability” As I have suggested in previous posts, debt has the potential to destabilize societies.
A Minor Post, Ethics, Political Science, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, System Stability, System StabilityBBC News “Big rise in North Pacific plastic waste” Two unsurprising findings here: The amount of plastic garbage in the ocean has dramatically increased over the past 40 years; and Some organisms are going to utilize this new resource to their advantage.
A Minor Post, Adaptation, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, WebThe Guardian “Mark Pagel: culture is central to human success” I thought it was interesting how Pagel took on the “culture as parasite” idea pretty directly: we are far too dependent on culture for it to be parasitizing us, although culture probably does lead to the sacrifice of the ‘good of the individual’ for the ‘good Read More
A Minor Post, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Cooperation, Cultural EvolutionAshland Daily Tidings “Paintings merge art and science“
A Minor Post, Mutualism, Science in Art & DesignThe Wall Street Journal “Making Ourselves at Home” Mark Pagel “Wired for Culture“
A Minor Post, Articles, Books, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Uniqueness, Psychological Adaptation, WebGlobal Animal “Dolphins Team Up With Fisherman” Now if only the dolphins can somehow get over that little “needs to breathe air every two minutes” problem with humans through artificial breeding. Seriously, though, this is really interesting as an analog for the kind of coevolution that probably occurred between humans and wolves. Just as was Read More
A Minor Post, Cetaceans, Cooperation, Human Uniqueness, IntelligencesLiterature, Evolution, & the Brain “The Evolution of Cooperation & ‘They Cage the Animals at Night‘” It is fascinating that this blog represents the work of many people, all of whom are looking at literature through the lens of evolution. I encourage this approach — I had better, as I take it myself — but this Read More
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Science in Art & DesignThis morning, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition featured a segment entitled “Put Away The Bell Curve: Most Of Us Aren’t ‘Average’“. I am generally vigilant about stories which make broad claims about human traits and their genetic and environmental underpinnings, and this particular segment triggered my alarms to scream. Analyzing a new study on “academics writing papers, Read More
Adaptation, Genetics, Radio & Podcasts