Math models are all fun and that, but I'll wait until the empirical data are in.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: > > Well, I thought I had explained it pretty well, but here goes in a > more succinct fashion: > > A new mathematical analysis by E.O. Wilson and two colleagues > indicates that kin selection is not required to produce observed > behavior. > > Now, since the theory of kin selection was posited by E.O. Wilson and > he is not saying something is impossible but rather that the theory is > unnecessary, I'd tend to give it a fair bit of weight. We'll see what > the counter arguments from other folks end up being. > > Judah > > On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> Old issue. It doesn't matter if Wilson agrees or disagrees with >> kin-selection. Does the current theory adequately explain the data or >> does his new view provides a more thorough explanation. This case >> reminds me of Clarke's first law: >> >> When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is >> possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something >> is impossible, he is probably wrong. >> >> >> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I haven't had the time yet to go through the underlying papers but >>> E.O. Wilson founded the discipline of Sociobiology and has serious >>> cred. One of the big things that Sociobiology brought about was the >>> notion of kin selection, that is that closely related organisms may >>> behave altruistically to benefit their relatives because their >>> relatives are likely to carry a large portion of the same genes that >>> the altruistic individual has. Wilson now seems to claim that kin >>> selection is not necessary as a theory and that altruistic behavior >>> can be explained with standard natural selection. >>> >>> Big stuff if you're into evolutionary biology. >>> >>> http://ksjtracker.mit.edu/2010/08/26/e-o-wilson-says-a-key-theory-underlying-sociobiology-is-wrong-2/ >>> >>> >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:325975 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
