Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Freeman Dyson calls the Prisoner’s Dilemma “an amusing toy”

Posted 17 Oct 2012 / 0

This is from the events calendar of Howard University, where Freeman Dyson gave a talk on October 12, 2012. Just in case this disappears from the web, here is the abstract of his talk: “The Prisoner’s Dilemma: Is it a model for the evolution of cooperation in the real world, or is it only a Read More

A Minor Post, Altruism, Cooperation, Evolution, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Group Selection, Web

New PNAS special issue explores the developmental effects of early social environment

Posted 17 Oct 2012 / 0

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners Sackler Colloquium“

A Minor Post, Articles, Behavior, Development, Gene by Environment Interactions, Phenotypic Plasticity, Psychology, Sociology

Rob Nixon on Rachel Carson’s prescience

Posted 14 Oct 2012 / 0

The Chronicle of Higher Education “Rachel Carson’s Prescience“

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Biography, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Economics, Environmental Justice, Habitat Destruction, Marine Ecosystems, Political Science, Pollution, Public Policy

David Sloan Wilson on Ayn Rand and the delusion of a world without tradeoffs

Posted 10 Oct 2012 / 0

The Huffington Post “Ayn Rand and Modern Politics” What I really appreciate about this post is its very simple brand of analysis. It asks a simple question and employs a clear methodology to objectively understand a phenomenon (in this case, the appeal of Ayn Rand to conservatives). Talk about a job of social construction: the Read More

A Minor Post, Behavior, Belief, Carrying Capacity, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Economics, Ethics, Game Theory, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Social Norms, System Stability, Web

Can neuroeconomics help economics become a real science?

Posted 06 Oct 2012 / 0

The Chronicle of Higher Education “The Marketplace in Your Brain” I think that this article suggests that much of economics is not much of a science. Faced with new information, mainstream economics has failed to update its models of how the world works. Doing so would make economics akin to physics or medicine or evolutionary Read More

A Minor Post, Belief, Economics, Emotion, Evolutionary Psychology, Game Theory, Neuroscience, Psychological Adaptation, Psychology, Religion, Social Networks, Social Norms

Barry Commoner, pioneering scientist and environmentalist, is dead at 95

Posted 03 Oct 2012 / 0

Barry Commoner was an exceptional scientist and human being. Below are some nice tributes to him: The New York Times “Scientist, Candidate and Planet Earth’s Lifeguard” The New York Times “Barry Commoner’s Uncommon Life” The Los Angeles Times “Barry Commoner dies at 95; pillar of environmental movement” The Boston Globe “Barry Commoner, 95; founder of Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Biography, Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Obituary, Pollution, Public Policy, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy