I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Perhaps the problem is that Wilson is
renouncing the one big thing that made his career. Without sociobiology, Wilson
would have been remembered within the field as a competent ant biologist, and
would not be known outside the field at all. But with sociobiology, he sits
within the pantheon of Heroes of Science and garners New Yorker interviews in
retirement.... but wait... didn't he just say he was wrong about the whole
sociobiology thing?
The situation would be very different if Wilson had made several key insights
and was now lamenting a single mistake. For example, it would be different if
it was the New Yorker was interviewing James Dyson, and he lamented being wrong
about the best way to dry hands. In that case, who cares, look at all the other
cool stuff he's done. Keep the interview going.
The situations also might seem different if you had pointing out that
sociobiology was flawed for 40 years. But I think there's more to it than
'just' that.
Eric
On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 06:08 PM, "Nicholas Thompson"
<nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote:
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>Dear Frank
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>I am in a rain engulfed open plan, bay-side, house with 5 other adults and
two kids, and many competitors for the one copy of the new Yorker, and for the
space to rethink what I wrote. So it may be some time before I can get you a
proper response. In the meantime, here is an improper one.
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>My explicit beef was with the interviewer, not with Wilson. It is certainly
news to Wilson that, having believed something dumb for decades, he now comes,
in old age, to the obvious truth. But why is it news to us?! The news, it
seems to me, that there were a few people who stood up to the deluge of
Reagen-biology that saturated the field, and it is to THOSE people, not Wilson,
that we should look for insight.
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>I am not sure there IS redemption for an academic who has killed off many good
ideas (and presumably graduate students) to make a towering academic career,
and then sees the truth in his dotage. At least, he has to do more than just
change he mind. He has to make restitution: hasto pay back his royalties and
recompense damages to those whom he has injured. And probably all the other
items in the 12 step list, as well.
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>Worse than the belated discovery of the truth, is the belated discovery of
foolishness. Perhaps the most dramatic instance of this was Donald Griffin,
who after a career of tough minded neurophys, woke one day as a mentalist.
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>Oh was that ugly.
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>Nick
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>From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Wimberly
>Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 1:58 PM
>To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] FW: See this?
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>But, Nick, later in the article it says, “…even as Wilson campaigned for
sociobiology, he began to grow dismayed with the scientific framework that made
it possible. ‘I noticed that the foundations of inclusive fitness were
crumbling,’ Wilson says. ‘The reasoning that had convinced me it was
correct no longer held.’ For instance, after pursuing Hamilton’s
haplodipoidy hypothesis, scientists discovered that many of the most
cooperative insect species, such as termites and ambrosia beetles, weren’t
actually haplodiploid. Furthermore, tens of thousands of species that did
manifest haplodiploidy never evolved eusociality—although these insects were
closely related, they didn’t share food or serve the queen…[Wilson]
concluded that inclusive fitness was no longer a tenable concept.”
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>Didn’t he redeem himself by your lights?
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>Frank
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>Frank C. Wimberly
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>140 Calle Ojo Feliz
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><#> <#>
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>Phone: (505) 995-8715 Cell: (505) 670-9918
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>From: <#> <#> On Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson
>Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 11:10 AM
>To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] FW: See this?
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>Owen, etc.,
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>Even after having been carefully instructed by the young concerning how to
access my new yorker subscription on the web, the best I can do is send you a
screen shot of the part of the article that irked me. As I read it now, I am
in danger of experiencing “irk-guilt”, but here it is, anyway.
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>I really am thrown into an irrational rage by the cult of the individual
thing that goes on in interviews.
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>“picking his teeth with a straw, the old biologist …”
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>Nick
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>From: <#> <#> On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
>Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 9:57 AM
>To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] FW: See this?
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>Definitely not. The full article is in the March 5 issue.
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>Frank
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>Frank C. Wimberly
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><#> <#>
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>Phone: (505) 995-8715 Cell: (505) 670-9918
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>From: <#> <#> On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
>Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 9:10 AM
>To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] FW: See this?
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>This is just the abstract .. is it sufficient?
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>On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 9:58 PM, Nicholas Thompson <<#>> wrote:
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>Robert, ‘n all,
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>Here is an electronic version of the E.O. Wilson interview that irked me,
courtesy of Frank Wimberly. I get irked by U.S. Mail.
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><http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/05/120305fa_fact_lehrer>
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>Nick
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>============================================================
>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
>lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org>
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============================================================
>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
>lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
Eric Charles
Professional Student and
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Penn State University
Altoona, PA 16601
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
