This is a true loss.
E.O. Wilson has died
31–40 of 83 posts
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#32E.O. Wilson comes up when you get into the "actor model"[0], especially with this quote:
>“A colony of ants is more than just an aggregate of insects that are living together. One ant is no ant.”
Many publications and articles on the topic of actors reference it at some point.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#33Richard Rhodes released his biography of E.O. Wilson a couple of months ago: https://www.amazon.com/Scientist-Wilson-Life-Nature/dp/03855... Rhodes is famous for this book, that’s often mentioned on HN Making of the Atomic Bomb: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1451677618/
Making of the Atomic Bomb is excellent, highly recommended.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#34"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos." — Edward O. Wilson
Mankind is one species with about 7 billion specimen. Insects an entire class with in the million species and 10 quintillion specimen. Not really a fair comparison. If all mammals would dissapear there'd also be chaos. Even just whale poop has a big impact.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#35I was there for his last Harvard lecture. He ended by saying, “Now I can say it. Humans have instincts!”
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both scenarios would cause upheaval, and I'm not sure what he means by a "rich state of equilibrium".
He means something that would be interesting for a biologist like him to hang out in and observe. I know some biologists, and they often wish that the world should be "rich" from a biologist's perspective even if the biologist isn't there to observe it. It's a curious perspective to me. If you don't exist, why would it matter whether the world is (a) green and buzzing with insects, or (b) reduced to grey goo or stran…
Aesthetic preferences exist in our minds independent of our direct experience. That’s why people can have aesthetic opinions of things the instant they experience them.
An aesthetic preference is essentially an ideal against which we compare our experience. Whether we expect to meet that ideal does not diminish its power. In fact if it was easily met, it would not be much of an ideal.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#37Never heard of E.O. Wilson before now, but his work sounds fascinating. Anyone have any suggestions on how to break into his stuff? Sounds like he has 30 or so books, is "On Human Nature" a good start?
I'm just finishing Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life a 2016 book in which he proposes that half of the Earth's surface should be designated a human-free natural reserve to preserve biodiversity.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Earth
A great read, I think we should make real his proposal. I believe we will eventually.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both scenarios would cause upheaval, and I'm not sure what he means by a "rich state of equilibrium".
He means something that would be interesting for a biologist like him to hang out in and observe. I know some biologists, and they often wish that the world should be "rich" from a biologist's perspective even if the biologist isn't there to observe it. It's a curious perspective to me. If you don't exist, why would it matter whether the world is (a) green and buzzing with insects, or (b) reduced to grey goo or stran…
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Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#39Evolutionary biologists are divided on his work. His own research and published works have been used by racists for example to readily explain the social origins of intelligence, poverty, crime, and violence regarding POC. He never actively fought against such tendencies, even though he was aware that he had become the darling of white nationalists, and even fascists globally. I believe that ALL "traits" can be explained by social environment rather than by biology. I respectfully refer you to many of Gould's work on sociobiology. We are not insects we are human beings.
Re: E.O. Wilson has died
#40Evolutionary biologists are divided on his work. His own research and published works have been used by racists for example to readily explain the social origins of intelligence, poverty, crime, and violence regarding POC. He never actively fought against such tendencies, even though he was aware that he had become the darling of white nationalists, and even fascists globally. I believe that ALL "traits" can be expla…
While Wilson's extreme position on nature over nurture is certainly open to question, Gould is not a good source to be referencing (and the extreme position of nurture over nature you describe is at least as much open to question). Evolutionary biologists may be "divided" about Wilson, but they're pretty firmly negative about Gould's work in that field. See, for example, here:
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Debate/CEP_Gould.html
Btw, Wilson was well aware that humans are not insects. He is the one who said of socialism for humans, "Great idea, wrong species".