PLoS One “Evolutionary Responses to a Constructed Niche: Ancient Mesoamericans as a Model of Gene-Culture Coevolution“
A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human EvolutionScience Now “Early Human Ate Like a Giraffe” To me this finding indicates that Australopithecus sediba is unlikely to be an ancestor of modern humans.
A Minor Post, Homo species, Human EvolutionPhoto: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panoramique_mont_Everest.jpg The traditional spring climbing season has come to an end in the Himalaya and 2012 has turned out to be a pretty deadly year. On Mount Everest — the most storied and trafficked Himalayan peak — ten people have died this season. Only the years 1996 and 2006 have seen more deaths. While Read More
A Major Post, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Human limits, Memetic Fitness, Mismatch theory, Play, SurvivalLive Science “Cavemen Bones Yield Oldest Modern Human DNA“
A Minor Post, Genetics, Homo species, Human Evolution, PaleonotologySocial Evolution Forum “Matthew Zimmerman: Groups as the Most Natural and Useful Level of Analysis (a comment on Pinker)” I am not sure which frustrates me more: The contention that genes are the only “target” of selection; or The contention that selection on organisms is the only level at which selection occurs; or The contention Read More
A Minor Post, Altruism, Cooperation, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Multilevel Selection, Political Science, SociologyNature “The diet of Australopithecus sediba“
A Minor Post, Homo species, Human EvolutionWhy Evolution is True “Did human social behavior evolve via group selection? E. O. Wilson defends that view in the NYT” Anyone who reads my posts here has learned that I find Jerry Coyne’s general tone to be really annoying and that I am predisposed to entertain group selective explanations of human behavior. But with Read More
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Multilevel SelectionThe New York Times Opinionator “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict“
A Minor Post, Evolutionary Psychology, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Psychological AdaptationOn Being “Evolving a City” Fascinating stuff here about the degree to which evolutionary science serves society. Wilson’s idea of “managing the evolutionary process” is valuable, and needs to be taken up more often.
A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Radio & PodcastsSocial Evolution Forum “The ‘Big Mistake’ and ‘Grand Deception’ Hypotheses: Alternatives to CMLS?” These are flaws in Pinker’s arguments that I failed to identify in my own critique, and Turchin prevents some valuable insights. This idea that the human mind can be so easily parasitized or ‘cuckolded’ by ideas is strange, casting ideas and culture as Read More
A Minor Post, Altruism, Belief, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Group Selection, Memetic Fitness, Phenotypic Plasticity, Psychological Adaptation, Web