Dec 30, 2021 06:15 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 30, 2021 06:18 PM by C C.)
Scientific American does an asinine hit job on E. O. Wilson, calling him a racist
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/3...-a-racist/
INTRO (Jerry Coyne): Scientific American has hit rock bottom with this new op-ed that is nothing more than a hit piece on Ed Wilson, basically calling him a racist.
It is written by someone who apparently has no training in evolutionary biology, though she says she “intimately familiarized [herself] with Wilson’s work and his dangerous ideas on what factors influence human behavior.” I usually don’t question someone because of their credentials, but this piece is so stupid, so arrantly ignorant of Wilson’s work, that I can attribute its content only to a combination of ignorance (perhaps deliberate) or a woke desire to take down someone as a racist who wasn’t a racist. Or both.
In fact, the piece below could have been written by any social-justice ideologue, for its real aim is more than smearing Wilson; it;s also to change the nature of science. Once again, the magazine evinces a ridiculous wokeness; how could its editor, Laura Helmuth, allow this to be published? I recommend your reading it... (MORE - details)
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SciAm article: The Complicated Legacy of E. O. Wilson
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...-o-wilson/
We must reckon with his and other scientists’ racist ideas if we want an equitable future...
E.O. Wilson, famed entomologist and pioneer in the field of sociobiology, dies at 92
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/27/106823833...gy-ant-man
INTRO: Pioneering biologist, environmental activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson has died. He was 92.
The influential and sometimes controversial Harvard professor first made his name studying ants — he was often known as "the ant man." But he later broadened his scope to the intersection between human behavior and genetics, creating the field of sociobiology in the process. He died on Sunday in Burlington, Mass., the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation said in an announcement on its website.
"His impact extends to every facet of society," the foundation's chairman, David J. Prend, said in a statement. "He was a true visionary with a unique ability to inspire and galvanize. He articulated, perhaps better than anyone, what it means to be human."
Paula J. Ehrlich, the foundation's CEO and president, described Wilson as a "relentless synthesizer of ideas" whose "courageous scientific focus and poetic voice transformed our way of understanding ourselves and our planet."
As an entomologist whose early career came at a time when scientists were gaining a deeper understanding of genetic mechanisms, such as DNA, Wilson studied how ant behavior evolved through natural selection.
He first gained wide notoriety for his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in which he expounded on evidence that human behavior was influenced by genetics.
Wilson argued that our genes guided our social behaviors — everything from warfare to altruism. That idea prompted a sharp backlash from fellow academics and activists who equated biological determinism with the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and Nazi Germany.
But his ideas outlasted the critics and eventually became widely accepted, not only in academia but among the general public... (MORE - details)
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/3...-a-racist/
INTRO (Jerry Coyne): Scientific American has hit rock bottom with this new op-ed that is nothing more than a hit piece on Ed Wilson, basically calling him a racist.
It is written by someone who apparently has no training in evolutionary biology, though she says she “intimately familiarized [herself] with Wilson’s work and his dangerous ideas on what factors influence human behavior.” I usually don’t question someone because of their credentials, but this piece is so stupid, so arrantly ignorant of Wilson’s work, that I can attribute its content only to a combination of ignorance (perhaps deliberate) or a woke desire to take down someone as a racist who wasn’t a racist. Or both.
In fact, the piece below could have been written by any social-justice ideologue, for its real aim is more than smearing Wilson; it;s also to change the nature of science. Once again, the magazine evinces a ridiculous wokeness; how could its editor, Laura Helmuth, allow this to be published? I recommend your reading it... (MORE - details)
- - - - - -
SciAm article: The Complicated Legacy of E. O. Wilson
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...-o-wilson/
We must reckon with his and other scientists’ racist ideas if we want an equitable future...
E.O. Wilson, famed entomologist and pioneer in the field of sociobiology, dies at 92
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/27/106823833...gy-ant-man
INTRO: Pioneering biologist, environmental activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson has died. He was 92.
The influential and sometimes controversial Harvard professor first made his name studying ants — he was often known as "the ant man." But he later broadened his scope to the intersection between human behavior and genetics, creating the field of sociobiology in the process. He died on Sunday in Burlington, Mass., the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation said in an announcement on its website.
"His impact extends to every facet of society," the foundation's chairman, David J. Prend, said in a statement. "He was a true visionary with a unique ability to inspire and galvanize. He articulated, perhaps better than anyone, what it means to be human."
Paula J. Ehrlich, the foundation's CEO and president, described Wilson as a "relentless synthesizer of ideas" whose "courageous scientific focus and poetic voice transformed our way of understanding ourselves and our planet."
As an entomologist whose early career came at a time when scientists were gaining a deeper understanding of genetic mechanisms, such as DNA, Wilson studied how ant behavior evolved through natural selection.
He first gained wide notoriety for his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in which he expounded on evidence that human behavior was influenced by genetics.
Wilson argued that our genes guided our social behaviors — everything from warfare to altruism. That idea prompted a sharp backlash from fellow academics and activists who equated biological determinism with the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and Nazi Germany.
But his ideas outlasted the critics and eventually became widely accepted, not only in academia but among the general public... (MORE - details)