Social Evolution, Natural Selection, Genetic Algorithms, Self Inventing Self Extrapolations, Universal Inventivities

Selectionist Approaches in Evolutionary Linguistics: an epistemological analysis

by Nathalie Gontier

Design Is/Is Not the Problem: Disciplinary and Ethological Considerations

by John Calvelli

For a panel on "Design as a Wicked Problem" at University Art Association Canada 
annual conference in Ottawa, October 28, 2011

Abel, D.L., 2009, The Genetic Selection (GS) Principle, Frontiers in Bioscience, 14, (January 1) 2959-2969

by Dr. David L. Abel

Open Access.

See also: Abel, D.L., The Genetic Selection (GS) Principle [Scirus Topic Page]

http://www.scitopics.com/The_Genetic_Selection_GS_Principle.html

(Last accessed January, 2012).

The GS (Genetic Selection) Principle states that biological selection must occur at the nucleotide-sequencing... more The GS (Genetic Selection) Principle states that biological selection must occur at the nucleotide-sequencing molecular-genetic level of 3'5' phosphodiester bond formation. After-the-fact differential survival and reproduction of already-living phenotypic organisms (ordinary natural selection) does not explain polynucleotide prescription and coding. All life depends upon literal genetic algorithms. Even epigenetic and "genomic" factors such as regulation by DNA methylation, histone proteins and microRNAs are ultimately instructed by prior linear digital programming. Biological control requires selection of particular configurable switch-settings to achieve potential function. This occurs largely at the level of nucleotide selection, prior to the realization of any integrated biofunction. Each selection of a nucleotide corresponds to the setting of two formal binary logic gates. The setting of these switches only later determines folding and binding function through minimum-free-energy sinks. These sinks are determined by the primary structure of both the protein itself and the independently prescribed sequencing of chaperones. The GS Principle distinguishes selection of existing function (natural selection) from selection for potential function (formal selection at decision nodes, logic gates and configurable switch-settings).

A 4D natural selection model illuminates the enigma of altruism in the Shedao pit viper

by Benjamin Hardisty

Some Potential Benefits of a Universal System

by Poppy Valentine

This is a thought paper on the power of the fusion of knowledge, love and diversity and what I believe that has to... more This is a thought paper on the power of the fusion of knowledge, love and diversity and what I believe that has to offer humanity.

Can science tell us what's objectively true?

by Brian Earp

Earp, B. D. (2011). Can science tell us what’s objectively true? The New Collection, Vol. 6., No. 1, 1-9. Featured article in the graduate journal of New College, Oxford.

Can science tell us what’s objectively true? Or is it merely a clever way to cure doubt – to give us something to... more Can science tell us what’s objectively true? Or is it merely a clever way to cure doubt – to give us something to believe in, whether it’s true or not? In this essay, I look at the pragmatist account of science expounded by Charles Sanders Peirce in his 1877 essay, ‘The Fixation of Belief’. Against Peirce, I argue that science does not come naturally to our species, nor does the doubting open-mindedness upon which its practice relies. To the extent that science is successful in ‘curing’ doubt, it’s because it tracks the real state of the world; and I argue that Peirce himself – his pragmatist narrative notwithstanding – is implicitly committed to this view as well.

Finite Social Space, Evolutionary Pathways, and Reconstructing Hominid Behavior.

by Robert Foley

Foley RA, Lee PC (1989) Finite social space, evolutionary pathways and reconstructing hominid behaviour. Science 243:901-906

Summary: this paper develops the idea of finite social space – that there are only a limited number of possible social... more Summary: this paper develops the idea of finite social space – that there are only a limited number of possible social systems, and uses this model cladistically to reconstruct early hominin social behaviour and evolutionary pathways.
Original abstract: Changes in social behaviour were a key aspect of human evolution, and yet it is notoriously difficult for palaeobiologists to determine patterns of social evolution. By defining the limited number of distributional strategies available to members of each sex of any species and investigating the conditions under which they may occur and change, the social behaviour of different hominid taxa may be reconstructed.