He started out studying insects in general and ants in particular (a myrmecologist). A true American genius.
There is a section featuring him in Tom Wolfe's Hooking Up collection. I highly recommend it.
Posted on 12/27/2021 11:11:07 AM PST by Rummyfan
Edward. O. Wilson, the trailblazing US scientist, professor and author whose study of insects and clarion call to protect Earth earned him the nickname "Darwin's natural heir," has died at age 92.
Wilson, whose death was announced Monday by his foundation, was an award-winning biologist and longtime Harvard University research professor, considered the world's leading authority on ants and their behavior.
While an entomologist early in his career, he broadened his scope immensely, studying not just insects but the social interactions of birds, mammals and humans, and he effectively—and controversially—established a new field of science known as sociobiology.
He was the author of hundreds of scientific papers and more than 30 books, two of which won him Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction: 1978's "On Human Nature," and "The Ants" in 1990.
"Ed's holy grail was the sheer delight of the pursuit of knowledge," said Paula Ehrlich, president of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and co-founder of the Half-Earth Project.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
He started out studying insects in general and ants in particular (a myrmecologist). A true American genius.
There is a section featuring him in Tom Wolfe's Hooking Up collection. I highly recommend it.
“Ed’s holy grail was the sheer delight of the pursuit of knowledge,” said Paula Ehrlich
As in Population Bomb Ehrlich?
Interesting desk. I wonder what the function of that form is for. Looks uncomfortable
Poor guy...
With a passion, I would hate being associated within a quadrillion light years proximal to Darwin.
“Sociobiology” another word for claptrap.
I never heard of this guy. CBS news this morning said he liked ants and wanted us to be more ant-like, a position which CBS seems to approve of.
If she is any relation to Population-Bomb Ehrlich I can’t find any mention of it. It is not an uncommon German surname.
Communist slaves?
He extrapolated his studies of ants to form theories on what he coined as sociobiology. One of his most controversial ideas is that humans are basically born, with respect to their behavioral characteristics, as a photographic negative. The development can only do so much as the underlying template has already been determined. Very controversial at the time he posited it.
Looks like she isn’t. He was Paul, it was so close.
Looks like a podium with a screen built in.
You can find good even with the bad and Wilson is far from the worst. “The Ants” is good, quite good and opens up a view on the world’s largest animal population. In the book, it is estimated that there are 10 quadrillion ants and they are found everywhere except for Antarctica (but I would not bet on human-residence infestations). In weight, the estimate is that they match the total ~8 billion humans’ weight.
It looks like a stack of papers, probably his notes.
“humans are basically born, with respect to their behavioral characteristics, as a photographic negative”
I am not sure I understand this metaphor. I look at human behavior like radioactive decay. You never know what a particular atom is going to do, but if you look at a large number of them, you can predict with a great deal of accuracy what is going to happen.
“’Sociobiology’ another word for claptrap.”
Yep, more made up BS in an attempt to sound intelligent and edumecated.
I leafed through one of his insect books. Amazing detail. I remember the front dedication to his wife...”who understands.”
Ed was a gentleman scholar with huge impact in biology, entomology, evolution and behavioral science. Ut is revealing that his intellectual enemies were a Mt. Rushmore of leftist ideologues such as SJ Gould.
A very congenial humble small town southern boy who has had major impact in the sciences and, later, the humanities.
May he Rest In Peace.
One of the great minds of the last 100 years and a true “bugsy, woodsy” scientist that loved studying social biological structures. He believed this “eusocial” organization of humans was the true secret of our survival and dominance of all other animals on the planet. The ability to abstract our internal states using language allowed us to transcend time and aggregate knowledge across generations independent of natural mutations.
I would recommend several of his later books including, “Consilience”, “The Meaning of Human Existence”, and “The Social Conquest of Earth”.
Agree. I sat in on his lectures back in the day. Brilliant man.
Nah, it isn’t claptrap.
He was saying that behavior is innate to a far greater degree then anyone would believe at the time.
Remember in the mid-’60s we were told that all humans were devoid of any programming, that the only difference was education and wealth. Any Kalahari Bushman could be a nuclear physicist if we just sent him to Harvard.
Wilson contradicted all that. Even SAYING it in ‘70 would mark you. He went around all that by focusing on insects, but the implication was clear to any sentient biologist. It applies to mammals as well, even more so.
What started with Lorentz went further with Wilson and culminated with Murray. And Murray gets his very own SPLC page calling him a racist pseudoscientist for merely publishing statistics.
Wilson didn’t get slammed quite that bad, but close. Read the article about what was said when he published “On Human Nature”.
Evolution doesn’t give a shit about Leftist politics. Organisms are still gonna evolve, and the smartest/best looking/fittest are going to surf to the top and propagate. It’s natural selection and entire segments of the human genome form clades that stand above others. That isn’t an accident of location of birth, as Wilson showed. It’s an outcome of the process.
Some people keep trying to set the brakes on that process, but it’s futile. It’s far bigger then them.
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