Blogging Darwin: Chapter One

As promised, I’m following along with Blogging the Origin and reading Darwin’s On the Origins of Species. I’m a few days behind John, and but here are my thoughts on Chapter 1: Variation Under Domestication

• The chapter is mainly a huge selection of examples that prove a basic premise: There are variations between members of a species, and humans, by selecting for desirable traits, can alter the species over time. Sure, it’s obvious now (and was sort of obvious then), but the rest of Darwin’s case relies strongly on this premise.
• It’s clear what Darwin’s strategy is, right off the bat. Club the reader over the head with example after example, to make sure that the concepts are clear and that the assertions are substantiated. Pigeons, Pears, Dogs, Sheep – he covers them all. You can feel that he knows in controversial territory and he wants his story to be bulletproof. He often states the anticipated arguments against his work and pre-emptively addresses them.
• Though it’s a little long-winded at times, I wish science had more of these detailed and comprehensive explanations and less 3-page papers in high-profile journals that omit nearly all the background and methodology.
• It’s fascinating to read Darwin’s speculations on the mechanisms of inheritance. Remember, back in 1859, modern genetics was still completely unknown, and there were plenty of half-baked ideas floating around. (I’m talking about you, Lamarck). It’s amazing to see how much he got right (inheritance, hints about recessive traits), and amusing to see what he got wrong. Considering that Mendel’s work wasn’t discovered for a few decades, and that DNA wasn’t shown to be the mechanism of inheritance until the next century, it’s pretty darn good.

Next up: Chapter 2: Variation Under Nature

Blogging Darwin

John Whitfield has a confession to make: He’s a PhD in evolutionary biology, and has never read “The Origin of Species”.

I can relate: I bought a copy years ago, intending to read it, but just never made the time. As I’m doing my PhD work in genomics and deal with evolutionary ideas all the time, I also feel a little sheepish. John intends to rectify this situation, so he’ll be reading the book a little at a time and blogging about each section. Fantastic idea! Hopefully there will be some good discussion in the comments as he progresses.

I’m planning on dusting off my copy and reading along. Find yourself a copy and do the same, but do it quick – he’ll be posting thoughts on the introduction soon.

Little Brother

Cory Doctorow just released his newest book “Little Brother” as a free electronic book. I downloaded it the other day, and devoured it in about 2 hours that night. I don’t often recommend books, every American, especially those under the age of 25, should read this book.

The story shows how fear of terrorism and modern technology could be used to turn our society into a modern-day dystopia, straight out of the pages of Orwell’s 1984. Thankfully, the same technology enables free culture to thrive in an era where the Department of Homeland Security routinely reads your email and the government tortures its own citizens.

Although I’ve disparaged some of Cory’s earlier works for being long-winded and lacking in plot, this one doesn’t suffer from any of those flaws. It’s fast-paced, interesting, and a great read. Read it for free here, or by it at any local bookstore.

Ayn Rand

Edited from a conversation with Joel:

Ever read Ayn Rand? I did fairly recently, and it explains a lot about libertarianism. You see, in America, it’s actually those honest corporation-owning americans who are being discriminated against. Why should they have to pay taxes to support people who didn’t have the same drive and work ethic as them? If those other people don’t own their own companies, it’s obviously their own fault – they should have worked harder! Class, education, and lack of social mobility are just excuses for the weak.

Also, Ayn Rand is a horrible writer (at least in Atlas Shrugged). Her allegories are paper thin, and the plot might as well not even be there. Once in a while she throws in an completely unbelievable love scene where they whisper sweet nothings about corporate profits and personal responsibility into each other’s ears. It’s awful.

Update – lots more discussion in the comments.

Litany

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and–somehow– the wine.

– Billy Collins

Esoteric Jokes

A mosquito did cry out in pain,
“A scientist’s rotting my brain!”
The cause of his sorrow
was para-dichloro
diphenyl-trichloroethane

When Curtis Cooper and Steven Boone discovered the 44th Mersenne prime, Bruce Schneier had to change the combination on his luggage.

Man goes into a bar: Can I have a pint of adenosine triphosphate please?
Barman: Certainly sir, that’ll be 80p

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. The waitress comes out and asks him if he would like to order. “Yes madame, I would like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream.” The waitress hurries back inside, and just as quickly comes back out and says to Sartre “I’m so very sorry monsueir, but we seem to be out of cream. Would you like it with no milk instead?”

via this AskMe thread

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

–Sara Teasdale

Sci-Fi Story

I stumbled across this neat old sci-fi story called A Pail of Air the other day (scroll down past the comments). It’s a quick read and I enjoyed it enough to pass on.