Curiosity and culturomics
Posted 18 Jan 2014 / 0The Chronicle of Higher Education “Erez Aiden Contains Multitudes“
A Minor Post, Articles, Cultural EvolutionMoney Talking about Janet Yellen and multilevel selection
Posted 10 Jan 2014 / 0WNYC Money Talking “Helping Ordinary Americans Focus Of Fed Under Janet Yellen” Should the economy serve the society as a whole, or only some individuals in that society? Wow is it refreshing to hear a radio segment ask that question!
A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, Memetic Fitness, Multilevel Selection, Radio & PodcastsCan you replicate the collective adaptive value of religion without god?
Posted 07 Jan 2014 / 0NPR Morning Edition “Sunday Assembly: A Church For The Godless Picks Up Steam” It is interesting to see people explicitly seeking out the benefits of religious community whilst trying to maintain their objective understanding of the material world. Conventional wisdom is that “god” is needed to make religions work, but perhaps just a collective intention Read More
A Minor Post, Belief, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Group Selection, Radio & Podcasts, Religion“Brainchildren” — another way to conceptualize our devotion to cultural fitness
Posted 25 Oct 2013 / 0The Chronicle of Higher Education “Bringing up brainchildren” This is such a fun and insightful essay on the relationship between our pursuits that yield — alternatively — genetic and memetic fitness. It effectively captures the wish of the intellectual producer to leave behind a legacy of ideas, to affect the cultural idea pool in some Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Cultural Evolution, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Memetic FitnessAn anecdote that illustrates the tremendous power of human network reciprocity
Posted 13 Sep 2013 / 0NPR Morning Edition StoryCorps “How One Man Continues To ‘Just Pass It On’” The story of this man’s life and how he has reacted to the kindness of a stranger nicely encapsulates the very powerful nature of human network reciprocity. Rather than focusing on “repaying the kindness”, Thomas Weller was charged to “pass it on”. Read More
A Minor Post, Behavior, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Human Uniqueness, MSCI-463, The Evolution of Cooperation, Radio & Podcasts, Reciprocity, Social Networks, Social NormsAdditional evidence that obesity may be due to environment, not just habits
Posted 09 Sep 2013 / 0NPR Shots “Gut Bacteria We Pick Up As Kids Stick With Us For Decades” NPR Shots “Staying Healthy May Mean Learning To Love Our Microbiomes” NPR Shots “Diverse Gut Microbes, A Trim Waistline And Health Go Together” NPR Shots “How A Change In Gut Microbes Can Affect Weight” What I find interesting here is the Read More
A Minor Post, Coevolution, Cultural Evolution, Health & Medicine, Human Evolution, Mismatch theory, Mutualism, Radio & PodcastsMy review of “Origins of Altruism and Cooperation” is published in QRB
Posted 30 Aug 2013 / 0I am excited to report that my review of Origins of Altruism and Cooperation was just published in the Quarterly Review of Biology. Although it requires some work to get through, this collection presents a really important counter-narrative to the prevailing attitude in evolutionary biology that altruism is simply self-interest in disguise. The book uses Read More
A Major Post, Altruism, Behavior, Books, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Empathy, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Human Uniqueness, Kin Selection, Multilevel Selection, My publications, Primatology, Reciprocity, Social Networks, Social NormsNew evidence of whooping crane culture on the rebound
Posted 30 Aug 2013 / 0NPR Morning Edition “Wise Old Whooping Cranes Keep Captive-Bred Fledglings On Track” What’s incredible here is the fact that scientists studying these cranes can show — even with their very small sample size — that experienced birds are aiding less-experienced birds in successful migration.
A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Cultural Evolution, Habitat Destruction, Radio & PodcastsAllen MacNeill predicts resolution of Ev-Coop debates
Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 0The Cornell Daily Sun “Darwin Days Lecture: “Can Cooperation Evolve by Natural Selection?”“
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Group Selection, Kin SelectionUnderstanding kin selection and reciprocity when strategies are culturally propagated
Posted 16 Mar 2013 / 0arXiv “Self-Organization Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation with Cultural Propagation“
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Kin Selection, Reciprocity