Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

My review of Railsback and Grimm’s “Agent-based and individual-based modeling” textbook published in Ecology

Posted 22 Mar 2013 / 2

I am excited by the recent publication of my review of Agent-based and individual-based modeling: a practical introduction in the January issue of Ecology. The review, entitled “Individual-based modeling for the masses“, lauds this valuable textbook designed to support individual-based modeling courses. I expect the combination of this text and the very valuable NetLogo modeling Read More

A Major Post, Ecological Modeling, Individual-based Models, My publications, Spatially Explicit Modeling

Just in case you missed it the first ten times: E.O. Wilson likes group selection, Jerry Coyne does not

Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 1

Why Evolution is True “E. O. Wilson mistakenly touts group selection (again) as a key factor in human evolution“

A Minor Post, Cooperation, Evolution, Group Selection, Kin Selection, Reciprocity

Allen MacNeill predicts resolution of Ev-Coop debates

Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 0

The Cornell Daily Sun “Darwin Days Lecture: “Can Cooperation Evolve by Natural Selection?”“

A Minor Post, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Group Selection, Kin Selection

Martin Nowak to lecture on the compatibility of god and the evolutionary process

Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 0

College of the Holy Cross “Harvard Scientist to Lecture at Holy Cross on God and Evolution” It is amazing to hear someone like Nowak say “God uses evolution to unfold the living world around us”. This is radical stuff for a theorist to say, as we generally try to understand properties and dynamics of systems Read More

A Minor Post, Cooperation, Evolution, Religion

Understanding kin selection and reciprocity when strategies are culturally propagated

Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 0

arXiv “Self-Organization Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation with Cultural Propagation“

A Minor Post, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Kin Selection, Reciprocity

Envirolutions club launches its “Room for Improvement” campaign

Posted 21 Feb 2013 / 0

This week, students in Pratt’s Envirolutions club launched their newest campaign for on-campus sustainability. Called “Room for Improvement”, the campaign seeks to lower the environmental footprint of the school caused by resource consumption. The posters that advertise the campaign are themed around iconic “warning” posters: Envirolutions will also be tabling during Green Week on Thursday, March 28th to Read More

A Major Post, Envirolutions, Pratt Institute, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

Dumb radio ads provide smart insight into the diverse nature of human societies

Posted 15 Feb 2013 / 0

Do everyday people have any sense of their place in the world? Human beings live in incredibly complex societies undergirded by convoluted economies and overwhelmingly diverse cultures. Do we have a sense of how these societies came to be, or how they function and persist? For evolutionists, these are pretty vexing scientific questions: most researchers Read More

A Major Post, Behavior, Cooperation, Economic sustainability, Ethics, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Political Science, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, Social Diversity

“Earth Hour” seeks to re-focus our attention on all the earth provides

Posted 11 Feb 2013 / 0

World Wildlife Fund Earth Hour Will an hour of darkness give us the time to contemplate both the importance of ecosystem services and how our voracious energy consumption threatens those services? It is certainly worth a try.

A Minor Post, Activism, Anthropogenic Change, Climate Change, Cooperation, Environmental Justice, Public Policy, Sustainable Energy

Seth Horowitz on our perception of sound

Posted 10 Feb 2013 / 0

WNYC The Leonard Lopate Show “ Please Explain: Hearing and Sound” Interesting that Horowitz discusses the same rationale for why the cell phone conversations of others are so much more annoying than other conversations, a topic I have discussed here.

A Minor Post, Music, Radio & Podcasts, Sound Perception

Forward on Climate Rally seeks to shift the national dialogue on anthropogenic climate change

Posted 10 Feb 2013 / 0

The Sierra Club / 350.org / Hip Hop Caucus — Forward on Climate Rally

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Climate Change, Cooperation, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Political Science