Vladimir_M comments on Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links] - Less Wrong

8 Post author: Perplexed 23 February 2011 04:13AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_M 23 February 2011 09:23:24AM *  6 points [-]

In my opinion, Dawkins wins this debate hands down. Though I find it amusing to think what the Bayesians here will say about the part where a commenter asks him, "If you had to bet, what would you say is the proportion of alleles that evolve neutrally?", and Dawkins replies, "How I would bet should be of no interest to you."

Humor aside, as for Lewontin, I actually had the attitude of humble and judicious open-mindedness towards these controversies until a few years ago, when I read that magnum opus by him, Rose, and Kamin titled Not in Our Genes. Even disregarding the parts that read like a complete parody -- for example, when they advise us, apparently in full seriousness, to read Chairman Mao for enlightenment -- most of the book is such a blatant ideological hack-job that I was left wondering how anyone could take these people seriously. (To make the it even more absurd, I stumbled across that book in a university library while looking for Pinker's The Blank Slate, of which I found one single crisp-looking specimen sharing a shelf with seven or eight well worn out copies of Not in Our Genes.)

Comment author: AlephNeil 23 February 2011 10:36:06AM *  5 points [-]

Dawkins' review of Not In Our Genes was epic (pdf).

Comment author: timtyler 23 February 2011 01:31:56PM 1 point [-]

Wrong books are sometimes more popular. Penrose, is another instance that springs to mind.