Appreciate it. I don't know how well I'll be able to follow it though, evolutionary bio wasn't my area.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 4:57 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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:325994 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
