Posted on

Show 233: Darwin Day Special Featuring Holistic Darwinism w/Peter Corning

Audio here!

On February 12th, many will be celebrating the birthday of the father of modern evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin. Darwin Day, as the celebration is aptly called, was initiated by Dr. Robert Stephens at Stanford University and the Stanford Humanist Student Group in 1995. According to the official website – www.DarwinDay.org – “the objective of the Darwin Day Celebration is to encourage existing institutions worldwide, such as municipalities, public and private schools, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, etc., – and individuals – to celebrate Science and Humanity every year, on, or near, February 12th.”
Continue reading “Show 233: Darwin Day Special Featuring Holistic Darwinism w/Peter Corning”

Posted on

Show 186a: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior

Audio here!

Humanism requires unselfish behavior and human cooperation for it to relevant to the future of human society.  It has become popular – perhaps as a backlash to the 1960s liberal strides – to think of humans as selfish, greedy and uber-competitive… A Hobbesian take on human nature which has been promoted to justify dangerous economic systems such as capitalism, as well as authoritarian fascist states such as the Bush Administration has been taking us toward.

Some scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Robert Trivers and Stephen Pinker, while not backing the latter, have backed the former, and now claim that science backs such draconian perceptions of our basic nature.

Others haven’t made such claims.

Continue reading “Show 186a: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior”

Posted on

Show 166: Fund Drive Program: Religion, Science, Dubya and the “Selfish Gene”

Fund Drive Program: Religion, Science, Dubya and the “Selfish Gene”

Audio 1 here!

Audio 2 here!

For this special fund drive program, we will be traveling along the crossroads of religion and science, and chatting a bit about the relevance of science for a progressive understanding of political activism, and we will perhaps delve a bit into how science may become politicized, even subtly.

Joining me today for this special program will be my associate producer, Arnell Dowret, and hosts’ Neil Murphy and Sunsara Taylor, and also a special appearance from Dr. Reg.

We will be offering as a gift for your new or renewed membership to WBAI, a special presentation by evolutionary biologist Niles Eldredge recorded on CD for us by the World Can’t Wait group, and also Dr. Eldredge’s latest trade paperback, “Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene.” This book responds to what I said before about subtle politicizing of science… that is, when scientists offer seemingly apolitical information on human nature, such as E.O. Wilson’s Sociobiology, Richard Dawkins’ “selfish-gene” model of evolution, or Stephen Pinker’s nature over nurture arguments a la “evolutional psychology,” are they sailing beyond science toward dangerously political waters? Dr. Eldredge seems to think they are.