E.O. Wilson at Town Hall

[jinian]

I went to see evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson with a bunch of evolutionary biologists, which was silly and fannish and fun going in (though I felt a little left out having only one of his many books). It was also potentially problematic, since he'd recently published a very controversial paper that no one I've talked to is happy with, regarding the plausibility of kin selection vs. group selection in evolution. The talk was... a lot worse than any of us expected. Basically he seems very nice but the Brain Eater has gotten him. Directionality of evolution? Humans as eusocial? "Individual selection leads to selfishness (sin)"?! Yikes.