After a year offline, the blog is back at integrationism.blog—with the Galápagos diary, the gratitude practice, book reviews, and a series on the idea behind On the Destiny of Species. … More The blog is back
Exvolution and involution: why principled, long-range thinking wins over narrow, short-range decisions in the long run, in both biology and in business. … More Exvolution and Involution, in Biology and in Business
Watching the fish at the Laguna de las Ninfas: why the tension between risk-taking and caution runs all the way down our evolutionary heritage—and why humans are, in Bronowski’s phrase, the social solitary. … More Gratitude Practice: The Social Solitary
In the morning I walk from my hostel to the Charles Darwin Research Station (the operative branch of the Charles Darwin Foundation), about a ten minute walk along the southern coast east of Puerto Ayora. The narrow cobblestone road with a sidewalk to one side is lined on both by dense vegetation. Occasionally small, colorful … More 2 June 2021: Charles Darwin Research Station
How Evolution Evolves “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change.” – Pseudo-Darwin When Charles Darwin was conducting his researches during the Beagle voyage and upon returning home and settling in the picturesque village of Downe, England south of London, the … More On the Destiny of Species
I arrive at the airport in Guayaquil about two hours before departure, hoping that gives me enough time to get to the gate. Before checking in with the airline, first I have to wait at another counter to obtain a Transit Locater Card, and although I preregistered online, the line is slow. They seem dubious … More 1 June 2021: Arrival in Galápagos
Human beings are wired to be fearful. Let’s talk about the evidence for optimism. We’ve been programmed by millions of years of evolution to pay more attention to potential and perceived threats than to actual, real benefits. As a result, many people live with and suffer from unnecessary fear and anxiety. As the evolutionary science … More Apocaholics Anonymous
All complex adaptive systems (which encompasses basically everything) evolve from the bottom up, then spiral between each higher level of order that emerges, so “top down or bottom up?” is always a false dichotomy. … More The Spiral Theory of Integration
An achingly beautiful novel about a nineteenth-century woman who discovers the process of evolution by natural selection independently of Darwin and Wallace—the greatest portrayal of the process of discovery I have encountered, and now one of my all time favorite novels. … More Book Review: The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Mayr’s final book, summing up three-quarters of a century of thought on how biology differs from the physical sciences and other issues in the philosophy of science from one of the architects of the Evolutionary Synthesis. … More Book Review: What Makes Biology Unique? by Ernst Mayr
