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Plato’s Beard » 2008 » November - whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must make random noises

Plato’s Beard » 2008 » November - whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must make random noises

Humouron November 18th, 2008 by ravi –

Here is a simple truth that you won’t hear from all the high priests and popularisers of science (in this case, biology):

The researchers whose work is being commented upon above, examined the historical record of dinosaurs and crurotarsans:

But, they caution:

The orthodoxy has objections:

I am no evolutionary biologist or paleontologist, but this sort of response seems to miss the point, logically speaking. Properly understood, there is no implication that there is true randomness in evolution — or rather survival (after all, all events have causes). Rather, it seems to me, the parsimonious claim is that species flourish or perish not entirely due to their own adaptations in the constant presence of environmental pressures (and while we are at it, I thought multi-level selection was taboo and we are only to talk of individuals, not species?), but also often due to large environmental events that alter their fate. One could of course present these events as selective pressure and the pre-existing advantages of the organism as “adaptations” but I think such a tautology would rob the theory of much of its value.

[ Link: Was the Dinosaurs' Long Reign on Earth a Fluke?: Scientific American ]

Anthony Appiah’s NYRB article:

[ Link ]

[ Link ]

In light of the Obama phenomenon, take it as you wish:

Nobody should mistake McCain for a leftist, but I wonder if Obama would stand up to an angry crowd and defend basic decency (albeit with implicit caveats) as McCain does here, in a rally in Michigan, during his presidential bid:

Two things struck me about this (apart from the pandering about ’securing the border’ etc): his direct and clear rejection of the mob, and the positive reaction that the rejection drew from the crowd. Obama fans speak of his inspirational or transformative capacity, but I doubt I have seen him take a clear and unpopular stand such as this and use that clarity and integrity to turn the crowd around.

Pankaj Mishra writes in The Guardian, about Fareed Zakaria, the latest intellectual empty suit of the talking heads circuit, his latest book, and the vision of India as a neo-liberal capitalist success:

The NYT documents the final days shennanigans of BushCo: