Famed Harvard Biologist Gould Dies

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20020520/ap_on_re_us/obit_gould ^ | 5/20/02 | yahoo

[Iota]

Your geneticist friend doesn't know who Niles Eldredge is? And doesn't know that Gould wasn't a geneticist?

Hmmm.

[scripter]

I dare say the biggest regret of most of the people who feel that way is not having been able to do it to him personally while he was still alive....

I don't know anyone who feels that way. Perhaps the manner in which some folks write here might come across as insensitive, but that's a long way from what you write above.

I completely disagree with Gould's interpretation of the data and his personal worldview. Still, I find Heartlander's words in post 111 most appropriate: "May God be with his family and friends and strengthen them in this time of morning."

[jennyp]

We're also told that he was raised by an avid atheist. Seems to be a common malady of evolutionists.

Really? I was raised by avid Catholics. (Though if you ask my sister Ann, she'd say, "see?!?" :-)

[Heartlander]

Evolution rapes morality and justifies it?

Evolution and Ethics

[cynwoody]

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[BMCDA]

I dare say the biggest regret of most of the people who feel that way is not having been able to do it to him personally while he was still alive....

Couldn't agree more but luckily enough those times are over.

[f.Christian]

An idea--theory about spontaneous--morphing matter/life is mainstream science...bubble gum!

[My2Cents]

Your geneticist friend doesn't know who Niles Eldredge is? And doesn't know that Gould wasn't a geneticist?

Yes, he's a geneticist. PhD from UC Berkeley. He's an expert in plant genetics and travels the world, working with governments, and giving lectures at international symposiums. Perhaps you'd like to debate him with your infinite knowledge of science.

[Youngblood]

What a shame. I knew he'd had cancer in the past, but I'd never heard he was sick again. I must say I've thoroughly enjoyed his wonderful ability to illuminate science, despite the criticism he received from many colleagues.

He will be missed.

[jennyp]

Darwinian Natural Right : The Biological Ethics of Human Nature

[Tuor]

What might that be?

The unpardonable sin, IMO, is that you DO NOT mock God. Mock anything else you wish, but not God. You can tease God, IMO, and make light-hearted jokes at his expense, but never, ever, mock him with serious intent.

Tuor

[jennyp]

An idea--theory about spontaneous--morphing matter/life is mainstream science...bubble gum!

Sometimes, if I wake my husband while he's dreaming, he'll start saying things to me like, "an idea--theory about spontaneous--morphing matter/life is mainstream science...bubble gum". Then he'll roll over and drift back into silent sleep.

[Heartlander]

Where does this ability come from to chose right over wrong even though doing wrong has the stronger sensation at the time? If morality is a natural law, how are we able to defy it?

[f.Christian]

You're both sleeping---brainwashed-dead!

[tortoise]

You're both sleeping---brainwashed-dead!

Yoda's back. And he's a freeper.

[BMCDA]

Um, does your husband have access to a computer while he is sleeping ;-D

[Junior]

You can look at morality as placing the long-term needs of the group over the short-term desires of the individual. Human beings are social animals; without the group we are short work for whatever hungry comes along; and without the group our chances of finding enough resources to survive are greatly diminished. Consider this fact to be the foundation of morality. Individual human beings have a set of priorities themselves, including survival, procreation, whatnot. The goals are perfectly acceptable -- until they interfere with the survival of the group. Nearly all human morality is designed to curb the clash of priorities between the individual and the group with the preference going to the group.

[Tuor]

Before denigrating someone else's qualifications, you might wish to try looking up "irregardless."

And you should consider how words make their way into the English language: by usage. If enough people use the word (and many do) then eventually the selection committees of various dictionaries will start to create entries for it.

But yes, technically you are right: it is not a *proper* word, irregardless of the fact it is often used as one.

Tuor

[Physicist]

I dare say the biggest regret of most of the people who feel that way is not having been able to do it to him personally while he was still alive....

I'm whelmed by the Christian charity being exhibited.

Re Gould: just last night I was reading an essay by Gould on the antennapedia complex in fruit flies. What a wonderful writer.

[connectthedots]

You are correct. 'regardless' would have been much more proper.