Yes, one of my co-workers got it - he just assumed that one of his students
put him on another odd mailing list. BTW, he is a non practicing Buddist
(he's Asian) and teachs evolution in his developmental class and for some
strange reason, one or two students each term try to "save" him (send
e-mails, mailing, etc.). Does anyone else ever get this kind of reaction
from students?
At 01:36 PM 12/7/99 EST, Karl L. Wuensch wrote:
>
> Yesterday I found in my mailbox a plain white envelope with no
>return address. Looked like junk mail, but what junk mail. I opened it,
>started to throw it in the garbage can, then saw that it was a little
>booklet. The author's name caught my eye -- J. Philippe Rushton. Oh my, I
>thought, who is sending me this, on what ultra conservative mailing list
>have I gotten? But there was nothing inside but the booklet, no explanation
>of who sent it or why. I looked back at the envelope and thought the
>address label looked very familiar. Thinking it might be my American
>Psychological Association mailing label, I pulled a copy of the APA Monitor
>out of my mailbox, and yes, that is what it was. The number on both labels
>was my APA membership number. The APA has sold membership labels to some
>organization which has mailed out Rushton's work. I thought the mailing
>might have only gone to those with a divisional membership in
>comparative/evolutionary (the title of the book is "Race, Evolution, &
>Behavior"), but a nearby colleague who is a social psychologist got it too.
>I am curious, did all APA members get this mailing?
>
> In case you don't recall who Rushton is, let me give you a retrieval
>cue: One of his arguments is that racial differences can be explained by
>the "r-selection vs K-selection" hypothesis (proposed by R. H. MacArthur and
>E. O. Wilson, and referring to the parameters r and K in the Lotka-Volterra
>equations for competition between species), which I learned in population
>ecology many years ago. R-selected organisms are those which rarely
>approach asymptotic density, so for them, the rate of population increase is
>the more important parameter. These species tend to live in unpredictable
>environments, where mortality is often catastrophic and density-independent.
>There is little the individual can do to delay death, so intelligent
>individuals would be as likely to die young as not so intelligent
>individuals. Evolution favors small body sizes, rapid reproduction, no
>parental care. Think of mosquitos and flies -- lack of parental care and
>brains hasn't led them to extinction. These critters don't need much
>brains, just lot of gametes.. Other organisms exist in habitats which are
>less variable, more predictable, and where populations are near asymptotic
>density. Smarter individuals can postpone death here. Selection favors
>delayed reproduction, larger body size, slower development (longer life),
>and parental investment. These critters need more brains than gametes.
>Well, Rushton applies this logic to the differences between human races. He
>argues that as humans moved out of Africa, they evolved away from r-type
>organisms to K-type organisms. Get the drift?
>
> Have you all also received this junk mail? Any ideas who is
sending it
>out?
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Karl L. Wuensch, Department of Psychology,
>East Carolina University, Greenville NC 27858-4353
>Voice: 252-328-4102 Fax: 252-328-6283
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/klw.htm
>
>
Deb
Deborah S. Briihl There are as many
Dept. of Psychology and Counseling ways to live as
Valdosta State University there are people in
Valdosta, GA 31698-0100 this world and each
[EMAIL PROTECTED] deserve a closer
Now in new Assoc. size! look..
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dbriihl
You got so many dreams you don't know where to put them, so you better turn
a few of them loose... Fire
