The descent of man
The Descent of Man, Darwin's second landmark work on evolutionary theory (following The Origin of the Species), marked a turning point in the history of science with its modern vision of human nature as the product of evolution. Darwin argued that the noblest features of humans, such as language and morality, were the result of the same natural processes that produced iris petals and scorpion tails.To convey the revolutionary importance of this groundbreaking book, renowned evolutionary science writer Carl Zimmer edited this special abridged edition—made up of nine excerpts, each one representing one of Darwin's major themes—and wrote illuminating introductions to each section, as well as an overall introduction. Zimmer brilliantly places Darwin's basic ideas in the context of the current understanding of human nature and twenty-first-century DNA research. By accessibly presenting Darwin's thinking to a modern readership, Zimmer eloquently demonstrates Darwin's ever-increasing relevance and amazing scientific insight.
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- For a very entertaining and educational book that tangentially related; I can highly recommend: Y - The Descent of Man by Steve Jones [0]
I am thrilled to see more chromosomes being mapped/sequenced. Please excuse my high-school level of biology knowledge here, but have we definitively progressed beyond correlation when it comes to genes, gene expression, and how they all interact?
Take "Blue eyes" as an example, we know that [1] OCA2 is responsible for brown/blue eye colour. BUT are we sure that none of the 20,000 others are involved/needed?
In laymans terms I would guess that to get 'blue eyes' would require several genes to ALL be on/active/present as well. More like a recipe, then a simple on/off it's located in 1 position.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/436071-y-the-descent... [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41433-021-01749-x
- Check out Darwin's "Descent of Man".
- I would also highly recommend the sequel, the Descent of Man. That's where Darwin actually discusses the evolution of humans, a topic he gingerly avoided in TOOS
- > “He’s correct. … Why wouldn’t it [evolution] apply to universes when it applies to everything else?”
I kind of wish the article touched on "everything" a bit more. Biological evolution is not the only process characterized by variation, selection, and retention repeated over time. Language is another system that displays these properties, something known before Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species". Darwin himself noted this in terms of morality in "The Descent of Man" whereby certain morals could help some tribes to outcompete other tribes allowing those morals to become more prevalent. Friedrich Carl von Savigny noted this in relation to the law. Carl Menger noted this in relation to money, markets, division of labor, the law, and the like. I think one of the most profoundly insightful books I've ever read was F.A. Hayek's "The Fatal Conceit" where he ties a lot of these threads together.
So while the "birth" and "death" of universes may be a bit too analogous to biological evolution specifically, I think it is entirely plausible that the order we call the universe could arise from some process of variation, selection, and retention repeated over time.
- "The movement began in the 1970s with an essay titled “Should Trees Have Standing?—Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects,” by American law professor Christopher Stone. Stone wrote that the history of law has followed the arc of human moral development, described by Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man. “Originally each man had regard only for himself and those of a very narrow circle about him … then ‘his sympathies became more tender and widely diffused.’” The rights-of-nature philosophy shifts the value of nature away from its ability to provide resources for extraction to its capacity to sustain life."
- What do people think about giving legal rights of personhood to inanimate elements of nature as a conservation strategy?
"The movement began in the 1970s with an essay titled “Should Trees Have Standing?—Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects,” by American law professor Christopher Stone. Stone wrote that the history of law has followed the arc of human moral development, described by Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man. “Originally each man had regard only for himself and those of a very narrow circle about him … then ‘his sympathies became more tender and widely diffused.’” The rights-of-nature philosophy shifts the value of nature away from its ability to provide resources for extraction to its capacity to sustain life."
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