Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

Dawkins vs Wilson, Nothing to See Here

Hostilities between EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins have heated back up with Dawkins’ scathing review of Wilson’s new book, The Social Conquest of Earth. People seem to be laboring under the delusion that the current spat between EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins reflects a throwback to a traditional academic cage match between intellectual giants defending their theories with acerbic rhetoric.

In now thoroughly refuted 2010 paper in Nature, Wilson and colleagues attempted to overturn much of the modern understanding of natural selection theory and altruism, known as inclusive fitness theory. Wilson’s new book (apparently, I have not been graced with a copy) continues this line of argument. Dawkins got testy with Wilson then and now:

. . .unfortunately one is obliged to wade through many pages of erroneous and downright perverse misunderstandings of evolutionary theory.
-Richard Dawkins

The problem is, as David Sloan Wilson pointed out in 2010, the debate isn’t about the evolutionary theory that experts currently recognize. This debate has less similarity to a rigorous debate between the intellectual giants of their field and more to a couple of old guys arguing whether the Yankees or the Mets are better based on their vague memories of the 1972 season. Continue reading “Dawkins vs Wilson, Nothing to See Here”

Voluntary Responsibility and Impostor Syndrome

Look, I know you should be subscribed to the WTF with Marc Maron podcast. You know you should be subscribed to the WTF with Marc Maron podcast. Why aren’t you? Cause you are lazy. That’s why.

But I’m not here to lecture you about your personal failings. I’m here to recommend that you listen to the most recent episode (Episode 283). Why? Two reasons.

First, the show introduction presents a moving story about Marc deciding to take responsibility to see a stray cat through the end of its life. It’s a story of compassion, not “passing the buck”, and putting consideration for another being before one’s own comfort and ease. This is especially recommended for the folks that leave messes in the laboratory common areas around here.

Second, Marc and his guest, young comedian Bo Burnham, have a long talk about impostor syndrome. I knew impostor syndrome was an epidemic among young scientists and writers, but apparently it is also running rampant among comedians. As a seasoned veteran, Marc not only manages to remember the insecurity of youth1 (probably because he never stopped being insecure), but also provides Bo with the insight that there is no “jury” that gets to decide if you are an impostor.

That was a great relief to me, until I realized that science has a whole series of “juries” – thesis committees, journal editors, grant review panels, etc., etc. . .

So, maybe just listen to the introduction.

“All art is useless”

The other day, I had a twitter debate with @dellybean about the nature of “good art”. Of course, @dellybean was wrong (Michael Craig-Martin’s “An Oak Tree” is brilliant), but art would be dull if we all agreed.

As is wise in such matters, I think it is best to defer to the man I would most like to have gone drinking with, Oscar Wilde (from the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray): Continue reading ““All art is useless””

A theoretical basis for ornithopter research

There is a lot of seductive technology in the Dune novels. While you might like the stillsuit, I have found that my imagination was most captured by the ornithopters (perhaps the idea of recycling my urine, feces, and sweat into drinking water doesn’t capture my imagination).

It’s pretty obvious to me that the engineers in the Dune universe would not discuss the design of the ubiquitous ornithopters using metrics designed for fixed wing aircraft like we, apparently, do now. Phillip Burgers and David Alexander have taken a stab at creating a new measure of lift1 that is readily applicable to fixed wing aircraft, lift generating rotating cylinders, and things with flapping wings (i.e., ornithopters and bats): Continue reading “A theoretical basis for ornithopter research”

Do you want to see the research you pay for?

Then you should sign a petition to encourage the White House to require all tax payer funded research publications to be freely available online.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research.

We believe in the power of the Internet to foster innovation, research, and education. Requiring the published results of taxpayer-funded research to be posted on the Internet in human and machine readable form would provide access to patients and caregivers, students and their teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other taxpayers who paid for the research. Expanding access would speed the research process and increase the return on our investment in scientific research.

The highly successful Public Access Policy of the National Institutes of Health proves that this can be done without disrupting the research process, and we urge President Obama to act now to implement open access policies for all federal agencies that fund scientific research.

* via access2research