Philosophy
Evolutionary arms races are one of the most powerful forces driving evolution, giving rise to the creation and ever-increased perfection of multiple adaptations. The predator-prey relationship is one obvious example: as predators become faster generation after generation, prey become faster and more adept at escaping (at least those who survive and pass their genes on to the next generation). Of course, being a faster predator doesn't help much when your prey is getting faster, and running faster away from predators isn't much help when they are chasing you faster too. It's like running on a faster and faster treadmill: you may run faster, but you're not going anywhere :)
That's why this principle of evolutionary arms races is also known as the Red Queen effect (from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass). The Queen remarked that "it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place" (relative to your competitors). And once you understand this runaway principle, you'll start to see it everywhere: in the preposterous height of trees, in male vs. female sex strategies, pathogens, sexual selection (think the peacock's tail), sexual body dimorphisms, mimicry, defense mechanisms, venomousness (is that even a word), etc.
In terms of human evolution, and ignoring diverging sexual strategies between men and women, one of our toughest competitors are infectious diseases, who seem to get better at overcoming the attacks of our immune systems, and who are constantly evolving resistance to our drugs. You may think evolution is a bitch in this respect, but as you'll see, it may also be the solution because arms races can also take the form of cooperation between different species :)
Check out all the episodes of this documentary series.
.
- Human Limits
With the Olympics coming up, it is a good time to think of the physical limits of human abilities. Every year, humans set new records running faster, jumping higher, lifting more weight. Yes, some of it is the result of performance enhancing drugs, but...
- Evolution And Degradation Of Language
So, at a wonderful BBQ at YKW's place, the conversation turned to language. I mentioned that the short people had discovered MadLibs at the same time I was grading student papers, and this led me to think about parts of speech. I remarked how the...
- 4. Theory Important To Philosophy
Why is the theory of evolution so important in doing philosophy? More pointedly, why is the theory of evolution key to understanding why human beings behave the way they do? Focus on evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology when giving your answers....
- Jonathan Drori - The Beautiful Tricks Of Flowers
In the game of evolution, the winners are those who successfully manage to survive and reproduce, and one of the best ways to do the latter is sexually. If you simply made perfect copies of yourself, there wouldn't be enough genetic diversity in your...
- Deceased--leigh Van Valen
Leigh Van Valen August 12th, 1935 to October 16th, 2010 "Leigh Van Valen, Evolution Revolutionary, Dies at 76" by Douglas Martin October 30th, 2010 The New York Times His beard, it was said, was longer than God’s but not as long as Charles Darwin’s....
Philosophy
Evolution: Evolutionary Arms Races
Evolutionary arms races are one of the most powerful forces driving evolution, giving rise to the creation and ever-increased perfection of multiple adaptations. The predator-prey relationship is one obvious example: as predators become faster generation after generation, prey become faster and more adept at escaping (at least those who survive and pass their genes on to the next generation). Of course, being a faster predator doesn't help much when your prey is getting faster, and running faster away from predators isn't much help when they are chasing you faster too. It's like running on a faster and faster treadmill: you may run faster, but you're not going anywhere :)That's why this principle of evolutionary arms races is also known as the Red Queen effect (from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass). The Queen remarked that "it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place" (relative to your competitors). And once you understand this runaway principle, you'll start to see it everywhere: in the preposterous height of trees, in male vs. female sex strategies, pathogens, sexual selection (think the peacock's tail), sexual body dimorphisms, mimicry, defense mechanisms, venomousness (is that even a word), etc.In terms of human evolution, and ignoring diverging sexual strategies between men and women, one of our toughest competitors are infectious diseases, who seem to get better at overcoming the attacks of our immune systems, and who are constantly evolving resistance to our drugs. You may think evolution is a bitch in this respect, but as you'll see, it may also be the solution because arms races can also take the form of cooperation between different species :)
Check out all the episodes of this documentary series.
.
- Human Limits
With the Olympics coming up, it is a good time to think of the physical limits of human abilities. Every year, humans set new records running faster, jumping higher, lifting more weight. Yes, some of it is the result of performance enhancing drugs, but...
- Evolution And Degradation Of Language
So, at a wonderful BBQ at YKW's place, the conversation turned to language. I mentioned that the short people had discovered MadLibs at the same time I was grading student papers, and this led me to think about parts of speech. I remarked how the...
- 4. Theory Important To Philosophy
Why is the theory of evolution so important in doing philosophy? More pointedly, why is the theory of evolution key to understanding why human beings behave the way they do? Focus on evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology when giving your answers....
- Jonathan Drori - The Beautiful Tricks Of Flowers
In the game of evolution, the winners are those who successfully manage to survive and reproduce, and one of the best ways to do the latter is sexually. If you simply made perfect copies of yourself, there wouldn't be enough genetic diversity in your...
- Deceased--leigh Van Valen
Leigh Van Valen August 12th, 1935 to October 16th, 2010 "Leigh Van Valen, Evolution Revolutionary, Dies at 76" by Douglas Martin October 30th, 2010 The New York Times His beard, it was said, was longer than God’s but not as long as Charles Darwin’s....