There has been a recent uptick in UFO sightings, as reported by U.S. Navy pilots and others. The explanation for the uptick is related to the climate change crisis, as described in this video.
Science and Industry
Robert Wright’s Nonzero and the growth of cooperative complexity
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, is an ambitious book, with a title that one might deem grandiose. But the author, Robert Wright, crafts a satisfying, readable tour de force that synthesizes human history, anthropology, game theory, biology, and ethics. The book first explores the evolution of human societies towards larger and more complex social […]
Review of Martin Nowak's Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed
How can cooperation emerge in a world of selfish individuals ruled by a Darwinian competition for survival? This is the question that Martin Nowak, Professor of Mathematics and Biology at Harvard University, discusses in Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed. Nowak and his collaborators have published a series of […]
Can conservatives manage what baboons can do?
Robert Sapolsky — MacArthur fellow and professor of biology, neuroscience, and neurosurgery at Stanford University — pursued decades long research into baboon societies. He found that most baboon troops were dominated by aggressive alpha males who abused other members of the troop, had pick of the females, and enjoyed good health and low levels of […]
Survival of the friendliest: how cooperation plays a positive role in evolution
The dominant story about biological evolution is a bloody tale of competition and survival of the fittest. There’s no purpose or morality in nature. There’s no Creator imposing an Intelligent Design. Rather, random mutations during cell division result in offspring with a diversity of traits. Those offspring with fitter traits tend to survive and breed. Weaker […]
Former Fundamentalist and Father of Eleven Now an Evangelist for Evolutionary Biology
An interview with former fundamentalist, Ed Suominen. Ed Suominen was raised in a small sect of Lutheran Christianity called Laestadianism. Of the 32,000 denominations into which Christianity has fractured, his is one of the more conservative. Members believe in the literal truth of the Bible, including the creation story. They eschew sins like drinking, dancing, […]
Extreme Weather Events! Get used to them.
Lots of news coverage of Frankenstorm, but not much mention of the role that our carbon economy plays in the production of this storm. Hey, mainstream media, can you say Global Warming? Here is what Joe Romm has to say about Hurricane Sandy: Why Hurricane Sandy Has Morphed into a ‘Frankenstorm’ — And Why We […]
Ocean Report
A couple of items on things oceanic came to my attention this week. NYT had a story on collapse of the cod fishery: The Shocking News About Cod The ideal fish for human consumption would mature quickly and reproduce in staggering numbers. This does not describe the Atlantic cod. Cod mature late — at 4 […]
Political Fables for a Political Year
The WA Post has back to back stories in my digest this morning that I found interesting. In the first story, the Government Accountability Office found that the Republican’s budget showdown over the debt limit coast the county 1.3 billion dollars last year. That is money that we could have used somewhere else in my […]
Who Is Puget Sound Energy? Let's Check the Title and See Who Owns PSE
Thurston County will get to vote to authorize the Public Utility District to expand into electricity in November. It is on the ballot, friends. We did it. No paid signature gatherers, just volunteers knocking on doors. Let’s talk about Puget Sound Energy for a moment. It is not a Puget Sound based company despite the […]