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Gnibo created an article from about 69832 text blocks
The evolution of Phelps's thought on how money can matter is complex. His later work stresses monetary non-neutrality, mostly through non-rational expectations and non-synchronized wage and price setting. His work in the 1980s focused on what the concept of rational expectations means in such complex environments (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2006/10/)
Here is the paper , which includes new and controversial claims about the evolution of leisure time, most notably that leisure time has not gone up since 1900 and that time spent in household production has increased slightly. (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2006/06/)
Genetic engineering also will accelerate the pace of evolution . Given that birth control is cheap, the women on the future will love children more than do the women of today. (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2004/04/)
Erasmus Darwin was an especially colorful genius who wrote what were in essence biology textbooks set to verse! In this stanza (from The Temple of Nature he discusses evolution long before his grandson was born (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2003/08/)
There is an entire system of insect classification based on their evolution ary history. Since insects impact the entire food chain, the fossil record of insects tells us much about other life on Earth as well. Even today, insects continue to evolve. This topic offers articles on evolution throughout history, and how insects are changing toda (insects.about.com...._World.htm)
Shermer either needs to dismiss moral philosophy as an illusion and a mere byproduct of human evolution , and thus display skepticism, or he needs to grant it credence and take his own moral stance. Descriptive science doesn't tell us whether it is fair to allow kidneys to be bought and sold, even if it helps explain why some people find the practice repugnant. Judgments of right and wrong cannot be avoided, and thus we tread away from the realm of familiar natural science (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2008/01/)
The good news is this: cultural globalization will, with time, become less of a polarizing issue in India and in other developing countries. The first Martian to arrive is the biggest news story, but at some point change becomes commonplace and ceases to attract much notice. At the subjective level, people eventually realize that globalization has preserved or enhanced many parts of Indiaâs heritage. The bad news, however, is closely connected to the good. While cultural evolution in India is hardly over, it is possible that the exciting and heady feelings of change have already peaked. (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2008/01/)
This paper says yes , over the last 40,000 years. The basic mechanism is that more people result in more adaptive mutations, plus environments have changed rapidly, due largely to technology and culture. Here is an LA Times summary , it claims that the pace of human evolution has accelerated hundredfold [sic] since the invention of agriculture (some reports indicate ten to hundredfold (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2007/12/)
We revisit one of the central empirical findings of the political economy literature that higher income per capita causes democracy. Existing studies establish a strong cross-country correlation between income and democracy, but do not typically control for factors that simultaneously affect both variables. We show that controlling for such factors by including country fixed effects removes the statistical association between income per capita and various measures of democracy. We also present instrumental-variables using two different strategies. These estimates also show no causal effect of income on democracy. Furthermore, we reconcile the positive cross-country correlation between income and democracy with the absence of a causal effect of income on democracy by showing that the long-run evolution of income and democracy is related to historical factors. Consistent with this, the positive correlation between income and democracy disappears, even without fixed effects, when we control for the historical determinants of economic and political development in a sample of former European coloni (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2005/03/)
For nearly a century, equal temperamentâthe practice of dividing anoctave into twelve equally proportioned half-stepsâhas held a virtualmonopoly on the way in which instruments are tuned and played. In hisnew book, Duffin explains how we came to rely exclusively on equaltemperament by charting the fascinating evolution of tuning through theages. Along the way, he challenges the widely held belief that equaltemperament is a perfect , naturally selected musical system, andproposes a radical reevaluation of how we play and hear music (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2007/08/)
First, investing in structures such as brains that will only begin to yield benefits afer a considerable delay makes no sense unless there is a reasonable life expectancy at the time the investment is made. Second, cognitive abilities are adaptations, which means that they should improve survival and so indirectly select for slower life histories. Finally, because growing brains are critically sensitive to nutrient shortages, growing a large brain is risky; the production of unfit morons is best avoided by keeping the brain on a very conservative growth trajectory. That takes lots of time, and only organisms that tend toward slow development in the first place have that kind of time. For all these reasons, we expect that cognition and life history will evolve in lockstep. Indeed, there is evidence for such correlated evolution among a wide array of mammals - and, importantly, among primates as well (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2005/05/)
I view Malthus as a tempered social revisionist who knocked down myths, thought in terms of social science mechanisms (he had both supply and demand and Keynesian macro in surprisingly sophisticated forms, not to mention an early form of Darwin 's theory of evolution ), and was painfully aware of the importance of contingent human choices. He is one of the five most underrated, and also least understood, economists. To be sure, he favored small government and opposed the Poor Laws. But he was skeptical enough about the notion of a voluntary self-regulating order that I would not quite call him a classical liberal. I read his economics as starting with the Bible , and asking whether any mechanisms might bring us to a less tragic outcome than what is found in the Old Testament. He was never quite sure of the answer, and his mix of moralizing and skepticism later attracted Keynes (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2006/09/)
No, it is not Firefly or Battlestar Galactica . But maybe you, like I, are starved for good science fiction, yet feel that almost everything out there is rot, whether written or on the screen. For eleven episodes - until cancellation of course - you can pretend that the rest of the world is more like you than it really is. The premise is that aliens have sent a pulsating fractal signal which is transforming human DNA and turning some of us into evil replicators. Only a crackerjack team of beautiful women, nerds, bald black career bureaucrats, and midgets can stop them. The philosophical content is to query whether evolution isn't repugnant by its very nature, and why we think we are so special. Don't expect the sky, but if you are at all tempted , try it , more info here (www.marginalrevolution.com....n/2007/02/)
The report comes at an opportune time. Evolution is under classroom attack from intelligent design, a non-scientific explanation of life's origins as divinely manufactured; if ID-friendly curricula pass in Florida and Texas , other states will likely follow . (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Evolution should be taught in science, not creationism. Perhaps creationism should be included in a class on critical thinking. Let students learn to distinguish facts from opinions. Let students learn how to spot bullshit. This is an important skil (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
All in all, I think it is very likely that the current ID vs. evolution controversy will push the scientific community to produce empirical evidence of evolution , reproducible et al. What, I wonder, will the ID side have to offer in response (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Just to clarify, I meant to say that I wouldn't be surprised if the whole ID controversy will serve as impetus for the scientific community to obtain experimental evidence of macro-evolution , in a lab, reproducible et al (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Kouroth, I'm not sure what a "passive aggressive attack " is or that I was "baiting" for that matter. However, I admit my intent was to provoke some thought. Why is believing in evolution any less a matter of faith than believing in creationism? The scientific method does not prove or disprove either belief (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
The fossil record provides a distinct lack of evidence of transitional forms which even Darwin said would be problematic to the theory of evolution . Due to the worldwide distribution of fossils I also conclude that a good portion (all?) of the world was inundated within a short period of time or the fossils would not exist (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
There are two elements to the theory of evolution : Natural selection and graduated transpeciation. ID supports the former, because it is scientific and observable. The latter is completely false has not been reproduced or observed in nature. There is no fossil evidence of the latter. (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Since when did the majority of people forget what science really is. a collection of hypothesis. Science has become a popularity game. The popular hypothesis has become the only one allowed to be taught all others are mocked. What happened to objectivity. This is a problem in many areas of science not just evolution (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
The statement that evolution is the only scientific theory is born out of well ingrained almost religious devotion to a self serving elitist prejudice rather than the true spirit of science which is to investigate every claim and give it careful thoughtful examination. (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Some people who are commenting on this blog may be doing so without having had the opportunity to read our book, âScience, Evolution , and Creationism.â This conversation might be enhanced and clarified by reading the book online or downloading it in pdf for free at http://www.nap.edu/sec (blog.wired.com....ion-i.html)
Darwinists are losing the battle for hearts and minds in the US because they have made a crucial concession to religious opponents, according to a leading champion of evolution , who I later interviewed on the subject (you can listen here ) (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Miller knows the tussle over the teaching of intelligent design in US school science lessons intimately. He was the lead witness on the evolution side in the trial in Dover, Pennsylvania, in December 2005 over teaching ID. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Americans reject evolution and the numbers are going up. Miller thinks this is because of the emphasis on chance mutations as the raw material for natural selection. He said (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
"In their eyes, evolution tells them that they are just an accident a mistake. Human beings don't want to believe that they are unintended consequences of nature." (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Darwinists are losing the battle for hearts and minds in the US because they have made a crucial concession to religious opponents, according to a leading champion of evolution . (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Daniel Dennett called it the "design stance". Biologists take this stance all the time, though they know there's no conscious design in evolution , because of course adaptations are there for some reason. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
It is important to counter the misunderstanding that randomness is central to evolution , which you get about 15 times a thread here. I don't know if an emphasis on design is the best way to do that. Just stick to explaining the actual mechanism (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Miller also makes some very sloppy statements. For example, when he says, "in their eyes, evolution tells them that they are just an accident a mistake", this is wholly misleading. An accident does not always equate to a mistake, and in any case evolution makes no reference to "mistakes" (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Putting 'design' into evolution won't satisfy numbers 1. and 2, but it might assist the malicious dictocrats for whom number 3. is the main reason for having beliefs. As such, it would be utterly pernicious (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
The 'argument' isn't there to be won on evidence, because most of the people who disagree with evolution do so because they'd rather believe a fairy story (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
"In their eyes, evolution tells them that they are just an accident a mistake. Human beings don't want to believe that they are unintended consequences of nature. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Peason1 there is more evidence and stronger proof for the theory of evolution than there is for the theory that the earth is not the centre of the universe. There is no conclusive proof that the earth really orbits the sun. The modern theory that they orbit a common centre of gravity which is almost at the centre of the sun has not been conclusively proven beyond the kind of doubt expressed over evolution (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
In UK schools the only students who believe in Creationism are Muslims and black Pentecostal Christians. This presents a problem for teachers. In confronting Creationist views they are in effect confronting the beliefs of the Asian and black students. Understandably a lot of teachers have chosen not to teach Evolution at all rather than be perceived to be racist (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Says a practicing roman catholic who also thinks that accepting evolution as the central explanation for how living things physically change over long stretches of time should hinder no one from worshiping the creator of that world (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Either way, one or the other doesn't "help" in the case under discussion since either explanation (or both together)would reinforce the fortuitousness of humanity's evolution . (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
So rephrase it. Much discussion of evolution is conducted between people who know they don't mean that humans deliberately evolved big brains. It's just awkward to put in a formulation every time to specify 'once the process of natural selection led to the evolution of big brains'. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Because, and bearing in mind that increases in top speed happen very gradually, the evolution of prey and predator 's pace is an arms race. As one gets quicker, so does the other. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
"Much discussion of evolution is conducted between people who know they don't mean that humans deliberately evolved big brains. It's just awkward to put in a formulation every time to specify 'once the process of natural selection led to the evolution of big brains'. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
I think that this is exactly the point that Miller is getting at we often talk as though there was design in evolution as it fits our lanaguage better (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
Their greatest ally is the fact that evolution is quite difficult to understand in any but its simplest form. In this sense, explaining evolution is a political act designed to nip these mentals' plans in the bud, before they constitute a serious menace to rational thought. (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
The only way I can see that "design" can be recruited to support the presentation of evolution is if it is qualified to distinguish it from the ID and "creation science" brigade, and to emphasise that OUR designer is not an external Power of any sort. We could use Natural Design to challenge the association of "design" with some kind of creato (commentisfree.guardian.co.uk....ution.html)
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