Just got my hands on the paper. I'll try to read it tonight. If you are interested, I can send you a copy directly.
Cheers, Judah On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 1:25 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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:325990 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
