DOCSLIB.ORG

A Popular Evolution an Authoritative Introduction to the History of Life from a Respected Theorist

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Popular Evolution an Authoritative Introduction to the History of Life from a Respected Theorist book reviews A popular evolution An authoritative introduction to the history of life from a respected theorist. What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr Basic Books: 2001. 336 pp. $26 (US); Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 2002. £14.99 Mark Ridley Ernst Mayr is a living legend. He was born in Germany in 1904, and began research in ornithology with a field trip to pre-pacified PRESS UNIV. K. SNIBBE/HARVARD New Guinea in 1928. After moving to the United States he was soon making classic contributions to the theory of evolution. Mayr is best known for his ideas on what bio- logical species are and on how new species originate. On both topics, his views are radically different from Darwin’s, but Mayr’s views prevail (if not universally) today. They are a turning point in the history of biology. Hands of time: Ernst Mayr has spent a lifetime explaining the mechanisms of evolutionary change. Species are populations of interbreeding organisms, argues Mayr — they are real But what is more astonishing is how up-to- biological species concept. For example: “G. genetic units, not artificial sets defined by date he is. The history of life is a fast-moving G. Simpson’s so-called evolutionary species phenetic attributes, or aggregate similarity. research topic at present, mainly because concept contains undefinable criteria and This biological species concept linked sys- of molecular research. Mayr is known to is useless in praxis.” Again, for experts this tematics with population genetics and was have slapped down a molecular geneticist or is a sharp judgement, to be argued with. But a key piece in the ‘modern synthesis’ of two in his time, and I wondered whether he beginners will have more difficulty because evolutionary biology. Mayr’s theory of would appreciate the new work. He does. Mayr forgets to tell us what Simpson’s species allopatric speciation argues that new species He explains, straightforwardly and without concept actually is. arise when an ancestral species is subdivided ifs and buts, that molecular phylogenetics Mayr’s intended readers may sometimes into a number of geographically separate is where it’s at, and summarizes the main have problems when he debates without populations. These populations then evolve findings. He seems to be thinking about the explaining that there is a debate, or debates independently and may over time accumu- latest research like any graduate student. without explaining his opponent’s position. late so many genetic differences that they He also argues as if he were in an egali- But his views all seem to me to be arguable can no longer interbreed if they do meet. tarian graduate seminar. The book bristles within the range of modern biological Mayr’s ideas were gathered together in with provocative opinions, some of which thought, and are entirely in order in a popu- his 1942 book Systematics and the Origin only professional readers will understand. lar introductory book. The only exception of Species, which is among the maybe five For instance, I detect a good-humoured is what he has to say on neutral evolution. (for fans) or ten (for scoffers) most famous argument with Mayr’s Harvard colleague I’d rate Motoo Kimura’s neutral theory as books ever written on evolution. He has Stephen Jay Gould in the reiterated stress on among the biggest, if not the biggest, contri- also written standard works on ornithology, gradualism. One paragraph bangs the point bution to evolutionary biology in the past texts on systematics, a huge book on the home, repeating the word ‘gradual’ seven 35 years. Mayr dismisses it in a short para- history of biology, and has contributed ideas times in five sentences. graph, as if it were an elementary conceptual on the philosophy of science that are actively Elsewhere, Mayr discusses adaptation, mistake. He does not make his objection discussed in the literature. and asserts that “it is irrelevant for the classi- completely clear. However, he objects to the Now he was written a popular book about fication of a trait as an adaptation whether it definition of evolution as changes in gene evolution, What Evolution Is. He says he had had the adaptive quality from the beginning, frequency. Neutrality is a property of genes, three kinds of reader in mind: general read- like the external skeleton of an arthropod, or and neutral drift produces changes in gene ers who simply want to know more about acquired it by a change of function, like the frequency. For Mayr, neutral evolution is evolution; people who accept evolution but swimming paddle of a dolphin”. Experts will impossible because the sorts of change pro- are sceptical about the darwinian explana- suspect that Mayr is dealing with Gould and duced by neutral drift are not real evolution. tion for it; and creationists — not in the hope Elisabeth Vrba’s concept of exaptation here, The book has a few dense sentences, using of “converting” them, but for them to find but Mayr keeps quiet about that. A beginner concepts that are either not explained or not out more about what they are up against. would not know that Mayr is taking sides explained until later. And it is occasionally Accordingly, Mayr describes the history rather than introducing an uncontroversial repetitive, with topics being explained more of life, including a full chapter on human point. But Mayr does support Gould on than once in much the same words in more origins, and explains how the history is another subject: the Cambrian explosion. than one place. A duplicative transposition reconstructed. He also explains the mecha- He suggests that the phenetic differences across 70 pages of a section on gene duplica- nisms of evolutionary change — such topics between organisms were greater then and tion is the most glaring example. But readers as natural selection and speciation. Mayr that evolution may have been embryologi- will indulge these small problems. Almost shows off his methuselan skills in the effort- cally more anarchic at that time. all popular books by scientists have some less way he sketches the history of the science, Mayr briskly and characteristically dis- abstruse material. The only alternative is and its conceptual context on the large scale. poses of the alternatives to his preferred to read the work of a science journalist, but NATURE | VOL 417 | 16 MAY 2002 | www.nature.com © 2002 Macmillan Magazines Ltd 223 book reviews then you miss out on a mind of Mayr’s calibre and influence. Mayr has now published a major ornithological monograph and a popular book on evolution in the past year. I sense he is only just getting up to speed. My next SARKASSIAN/CSIRO J. request is for an autobiography. ■ Mark Ridley is in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. Tuning in to radio galaxies The Physics of Extragalactic Radio Sources by David S. De Young University of Chicago Press: 2002. 450 pp. $45 Radio star: the Parkes Radio Telescope near Alectown in Australia detects extragalactic signals. K. I. Kellermann infrared through the optical and ultraviolet that leads to a better understanding of the After the Second World War, scientists, espe- to the X-ray parts of the electromagnetic physics involved. In other cases, the reader is cially in England and Australia, turned their spectrum. Huge radio-telescope arrays show referred to the appropriate literature. In the wartime radar equipment towards the skies remarkably fine detail in the synchrotron later chapters De Young applies the theory to to follow up on the pre-war discovery by Karl clouds, revealing thin jets that carry the rela- both extended and compact radio sources, Jansky and Grote Reber of radio emission tivistic electron gas from active galactic nuclei relativistic jets and AGN, including a discus- from the Milky Way. Although hampered at (AGN) out to distant radio lobes, as much as sion of unified radio-source models which first by poor angular resolution and limited a million light years or more away from the attempt to explain the range of observed sensitivity, they were able to detect powerful central engine. Global radio-interferometer properties as the result of the orientation of sources of non-thermal radio emission from observations using angular resolutions up the relativistic jet or an obscuring torus several distant galaxies. During the 1950s to 100 times better than that of the Hubble surrounding the central engine. He discusses and 1960s, powerful interferometric and Space Telescope show directly the ejection the nature of the host galaxy or associated aperture-synthesis techniques were devel- of relativistic plasma from the central engine quasar and includes a review of their optical oped. When combined with theoretical with apparent velocities in excess of the and X-ray properties. advances, primarily in the Soviet Union, they speed of light. This is an illusion caused by There are few original drawings. Most of showed that the observed radio emission was the finite signal-propagation time from a the illustrations are taken from the literature, due to synchrotron radiation emitted from relativistically moving source of radiation. but are sometimes out of date in this rapidly extensive clouds of ultrarelativistic electrons However, the new observations may have moving field and often have inadequate cap- moving in weak magnetic fields far removed raised more questions than they answer. tions or explanation. There are a few errors, from the parent galaxy. The energy required The source of energy is still unclear, although some of which seem to have been introduced in the form of relativistic particles and it is widely assumed to be associated with by the editors. Nevertheless, the book will be magnetic fields appeared to be enormous.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Richard Dawkins
    RICHARD DAWKINS HOW A SCIENTIST CHANGED THE WAY WE THINK Reflections by scientists, writers, and philosophers Edited by ALAN GRAFEN AND MARK RIDLEY 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2006 with the exception of To Rise Above © Marek Kohn 2006 and Every Indication of Inadvertent Solicitude © Philip Pullman 2006 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should
    [Show full text]
  • Narrow Roads of Gene Land
    NARROW ROADS OF GENE LAND The Collected Papers of W. D. HAMILTON VOLUME 3 Last Words Edited by Mark Ridley 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Introductory sections # Oxford University Press 2005 Chapter 14 Introductory section # E. Hooper and Oxford University Press 2005 Chapter 19 images retain original copyright and are printed with permission Reprinted papers retain original copyright and are printed with permission The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think Edited by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley
    ISBE Newsletter, Vol. 19(1) April 2007 Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think Edited by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley. Oxford University Press, 2006, 283 Pp. ISBN 0-19-929116-0 (hardcover) Richard Dawkins’ media profile has recently surged much to Dawkins. More notably, Cronin’s writing thanks to the controversy surrounding his latest book, rephrases these questions and controversies artfully and The God Delusion (Dawkins, 2006a), at the time of this economically, arguing for example that some cited writing, number 10 after 22 weeks on the New York examples of conflict, such as the dead female dung fly Times list of bestsellers. In spite of all this current drowned by eager males, are not in fact examples of attention, (whether he likes it or not) most scientists sexual conflict at all, but “civilian casualties caught in probably know Dawkins for his first book, The Selfish [the] crossfire” of intrasexual competition between Gene. In his introduction for the 30th anniversary edition males. Cronin’s essay is a fitting tribute to Dawkins, as of The Selfish Gene, Dawkins (2006b) grumbles that over she shares his gift for clarifying scientific principles the years, as he has toured to promote his subsequent while popularizing them. books, “[a]udiences respond to the new book, whichever In the section on The Selfish Gene, David Haig’s essay, one it is, applaud politely, and ask intelligent questions. “The Gene Meme,” is a wonderful exercise in mental They then line up to buy, and have me sign . The gymnastics that will leave your mind limber and Selfish Gene.” To further emphasize the huge impact of strengthened or cramped and sore.
    [Show full text]
  • The Selfish Gene and Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think*
    SIS_5_66-88_x 15.05.2007 10:49 Uhr Seite 84 The Selfish Gene+ and Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think* +By Richard Dawkins *Edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley Reviewed by Bernhard Haubold, Fachhochschule Weihenstephan, Germany If you are not interested in how and it is natural selection we must species, evolution works by maximis- evolution came about, and cannot understand if we are to comprehend ing what he referred to as an individ- conceive how anyone could be seri- our own identities.” ual’s “inclusive fitness”. Starting from ously concerned about anything other This quote gives us a taste of the the simple idea that, genetically than human affairs, then do not read kind of hyperbole that has accompa- speaking, my own survival is equiva- it: it will only make you needlessly nied public debates of evolution since lent to that of two of my siblings, this angry,” wrote John Maynard Smith the mid-19th century. To imply that suggests that fitness calculations about The Selfish Gene. Richard people who do not understand natu- should include not only direct off- Dawkin’s classic exposition of mod- ral selection have no comprehension spring but also relatives, because they ern evolutionary biology was pub- of their own identities is so pompous too carry copies of an individual’s lished in 1976 and has recently been that anger might well be the reaction genes. This gene-centred – rather than reissued as a 30th anniversary edition of a reader unaware of the rules of group-centred – perspective leads to with a new introduction by the popular science writing.
    [Show full text]
  • When Nice Guys Finish First: the Evolution of Cooperation, the Study of Law, and the Ordering of Legal Regimes
    University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 37 2004 When Nice Guys Finish First: The Evolution of Cooperation, The Study of Law, and the Ordering of Legal Regimes Neel P. Parekh University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Law and Society Commons, and the Science and Technology Law Commons Recommended Citation Neel P. Parekh, When Nice Guys Finish First: The Evolution of Cooperation, The Study of Law, and the Ordering of Legal Regimes, 37 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 909 (2004). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol37/iss3/8 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHEN NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST: THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION, THE STUDY OF LAW, AND THE ORDERING OF LEGAL REGIMES Neel P. Parekh* This Note adds to the scholarship in the area of Evolutionary Analysis and the Law (EA). EA is a paradigm that comments on the implications of evolution on the law. EA recognizes that many complex human behaviors that the law seeks to regulate have evolutionary origins that remain relevant today. This Note details how an understanding of the evolutionary basis of cooperation can bring about favorable revisions and reforms in the law.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think Edited by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Stirling Online Research Repository ISBE Newsletter, Vol. 19(1) April 2007 Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think Edited by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley. Oxford University Press, 2006, 283 Pp. ISBN 0-19-929116-0 (hardcover) Richard Dawkins’ media profile has recently surged much to Dawkins. More notably, Cronin’s writing thanks to the controversy surrounding his latest book, rephrases these questions and controversies artfully and The God Delusion (Dawkins, 2006a), at the time of this economically, arguing for example that some cited writing, number 10 after 22 weeks on the New York examples of conflict, such as the dead female dung fly Times list of bestsellers. In spite of all this current drowned by eager males, are not in fact examples of attention, (whether he likes it or not) most scientists sexual conflict at all, but “civilian casualties caught in probably know Dawkins for his first book, The Selfish [the] crossfire” of intrasexual competition between Gene. In his introduction for the 30th anniversary edition males. Cronin’s essay is a fitting tribute to Dawkins, as of The Selfish Gene, Dawkins (2006b) grumbles that over she shares his gift for clarifying scientific principles the years, as he has toured to promote his subsequent while popularizing them. books, “[a]udiences respond to the new book, whichever In the section on The Selfish Gene, David Haig’s essay, one it is, applaud politely, and ask intelligent questions. “The Gene Meme,” is a wonderful exercise in mental They then line up to buy, and have me sign .
    [Show full text]
  • GENOME by Matt Ridley
    The author is grateful to the following publishers for permission to reprint brief extracts: Harvard University Press for four extracts from Nancy Wexler's article in The Code of Codes, edited by D. Kevles and R. Hood (pp. 62-9); Aurum Press for an extract from The Gene Hunters by William Cookson (p. 78); Macmillan Press for extracts from Philosophical Essays by A. J. Ayer (p. 338) and What Remains to Be Discovered by J. Maddox (p. 194); W. H. Freeman for extracts from The Narrow Roads of Gene Land by W. D. Hamilton (p. 131); Oxford University Press for extracts from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (p. 122) and Fatal Protein by Rosalind Ridley and Harry Baker (p. 285); Weidenfeld and Nicolson for an extract from One Renegade Cell by Robert Weinberg (p. 237). The author has made every effort to obtain permission for all other extracts from published work reprinted in this book. This book was originally published in Great Britain in 1999 by Fourth Estate Limited. GENOME. Copyright © 1999 by Matt Ridley. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolutionary Psychology As Public Science and Boundary Work Cassidy, Angela
    www.ssoar.info Evolutionary psychology as public science and boundary work Cassidy, Angela Postprint / Postprint Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: www.peerproject.eu Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Cassidy, A. (2006). Evolutionary psychology as public science and boundary work. Public Understanding of Science, 15(2), 175-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662506059260 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter dem "PEER Licence Agreement zur This document is made available under the "PEER Licence Verfügung" gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zum PEER-Projekt finden Agreement ". For more Information regarding the PEER-project Sie hier: http://www.peerproject.eu Gewährt wird ein nicht see: http://www.peerproject.eu This document is solely intended exklusives, nicht übertragbares, persönliches und beschränktes for your personal, non-commercial use.All of the copies of Recht auf Nutzung dieses Dokuments. Dieses Dokument this documents must retain all copyright information and other ist ausschließlich für den persönlichen, nicht-kommerziellen information regarding legal protection. You are not allowed to alter Gebrauch bestimmt. Auf sämtlichen Kopien dieses Dokuments this document in any way, to copy it for public or commercial müssen alle Urheberrechtshinweise und sonstigen Hinweise purposes, to exhibit the document in public, to perform, distribute auf gesetzlichen Schutz beibehalten werden. Sie dürfen dieses or otherwise use the document in public. Dokument nicht in irgendeiner Weise abändern, noch dürfen By using this particular document, you accept the above-stated Sie dieses Dokument für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke conditions of use. vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, aufführen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen an.
    [Show full text]
  • Selfish Genes: Fit at Thirty, a Review of Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think
    Evolutionary Psychology human-nature.com/ep – 2006. 4: 287-289 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Book Review Selfish Genes: Fit at Thirty A Review of Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think, Edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley. Oxford University Press, 2006. 304 pp. Harold Fromm, Visiting Scholar, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA, [email protected] Like most Festschriften, this celebration of 30 years of The Selfish Gene collects new essays and tributes that range from nugatory to substantial. But there is considerable agreement that Dawkins’ 1976 first book really did change the way a range of individual thinkers as well as whole disciplines think. (“I am convinced that The Selfish Gene brought about a silent and almost immediate revolution in biology,” writes Alan Grafen, p. 72) And the change is all to the good insofar as it served as one more exorcism of that damned ghost in the machine, a ghost that will never be completely laid to rest, largely because of the very nature of those selfish, unscrupulous, and thoroughly unprincipled genes. From a bagatelle by Dawkins’ former wife Marian Stamp to a meaty distillation by Ullica Segerstråle of her magnum opus, Defenders of the Truth, we find a large cast of eminents, including (in order of appearance) Cronin, Krebs, Dennett, Pinker, Daly and Wilson, Ruse, Shermer, Barash and more. The book starts out with an essay by Andrew F. Read on the fabulous kakapo bird in New Zealand: “Evolution has dealt kakapo an extraordinarily bad hand for life in the modern world. Until the last millennium, the only mammals in New Zealand were bats.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Evolution, Fitness and Adaptations the Ability of Humans To
    1. Evolution, fitness and adaptations The ability of humans to attribute significance and meaning to the material world can, I suggest, legitimately be thought of as biological and evolutionary in origin; further, that those origins profoundly inform how that ability works today; and I propose that this ability can be described as an adaptation, or more properly, as a suite of inter-connecting adaptations. Some arguments about the characteristics of this ability – arguments which support this proposition, especially insofar as it relates to our engagement with artefacts - will only be developed fully in later chapters: much of direct relevance relating specifically to human evolution – especially the brain - is discussed in the chapter after this; the evolutionary origins of our reflexive, sensory and perceptual biases, and the technical and aesthetic sensibilities these support is examined in chapter three; chapter four examines the role of artefacts as symbols, or symbolic elements in narratives; while chapter five describes how this ability may work in practice. Inevitably, issues attached to the loose and still emerging concept of evolutionary psychology – the proposition that the human psyche is, in part, a product of our genetic inheritance - will be explored. The intention at this preliminary stage is to articulate a broad, evolutionary framework into which this more developed model of our engagement with the material, including artefacts, will eventually be slotted. This is not without its difficulties: as noted in the introduction, we are emerging (2004) from a debate (most of whose themes were identified by Darwin himself) about just how, in general terms, biological evolution works.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Evolution? a Response to Bamforth Michael J
    Texas A&M University- San Antonio Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University- San Antonio History Faculty Publications College of Arts and Sciences 2003 What Is Evolution? A Response to Bamforth Michael J. O'Brien Texas A&M University-San Antonio, [email protected] R. L. Lyman R. D. Leonard Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/hist_faculty Part of the Anthropology Commons Repository Citation O'Brien, Michael J.; Lyman, R. L.; and Leonard, R. D., "What Is Evolution? A Response to Bamforth" (2003). History Faculty Publications. 25. https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/hist_faculty/25 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University- San Antonio. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University- San Antonio. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMENTS WHAT IS EVOLUTION? A RESPONSE TO BAMFORTH Michael J. O'Brien, R. Lee Lyman, and Robert D. Leonard Douglas Bamforth 's recent paper in American Antiquity, "Evidence and Metaphor in Evolutionary Archaeology," charges that Darwinism has little to offer archaeology except in a metaphorical sense. Specifically, Bamforth claims that arguments that allegedly link evolutionary processes to the archaeological record are unsustainable. Given Bamforth's narrow view of evolution-that it must be defined strictly in terms of changes in gene frequency-he is correct. But no biologist or pale- ontologist would agree with Bamforth 's claim that evolution is a process that must be viewedfundamentally at the microlevel.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of the Selfish Gene the Thirtieth Anniversary of Richard Dawkins’ Landmark Work Provides an Opportunity to Take Stock
    Vol 441|11 May 2006 SPRING BOOKS Evolution of the selfish gene The thirtieth anniversary of Richard Dawkins’ landmark work provides an opportunity to take stock. Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think edited by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley Oxford University Press: 2006. 304 pp. £12.99, $25 Dan Sperber “We are survival machines — robot vehicles JOE MAGEE BY ILLUSTRATIONS blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment … One of my hopes is that I may have some success in astonishing others.” That hope, expressed by Richard Dawkins in the preface of The Selfish Gene, has been more than fulfilled. Published 30 years ago, The Selfish Gene has been, and remains, one of the most influential science books of all time. To celebrate this anniversary, a third edition has been released, along with Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think. The latter is a collection of comments and testimonials edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley. In the 1960s and ’70s, biologists such as William Hamilton, John Maynard Smith, Robert Trivers and G. C. Williams sought to explain troubling aspects of evolution by approaching them at the level of genes, rather than at the usual level of individual organisms, groups or species. The existence of altruistic they were provides us with a uniquely cogent beyond the boundaries and behaviour of orga- behaviour that may decrease the reproductive account of their actual effects on the world. nisms, for example when the genes of parasites success of altruistic individuals, for instance, The logic is that used by Darwin when he express themselves by modifying their host’s presents a puzzle for standard darwinism.
    [Show full text]