There was one more lab meeting before the break and it fell to Adrian Friday to do it and to continue the evolutionary theme that we had began on our Christmas celebration.
A few months ago a discussion broke up in the field of evolutionary biology. It was (and still is) a riot of a discussion which has engaged the minds and the hearts of people in the field. It spilled into the newspapers and you can read a nice (though biased) account of it by Jonah Lehrer in the New Yorker (“Kin and kindâ€, March 5 2012). At the heart of the matter is the old issue of understanding the basis of that elusive notion of “altruismâ€, whether (if it exists) is a question of kin (genes) or kind (groups that need not be genetically related). Adrian, as usual, did a great job in guiding us through the science punctuating it with famous lines of cultural significance like JB Haldane’s “”I would lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins†to M. Thatcher’s “there is no such a thing as societyâ€, which led the more scientific discussion.
The gist of the argument is that kin selection is a well established paradigm in evolutionary biology which is sponsored by about everybody who is anybody and, for many years, by EO Wilson, father and leading figure of the field of Sociobiology. However, suddenly, Wilson has changed sides and at 83, has decided the group, rather than kin, selection is what works. The reasons for the change? A mixture of maths and intuition. The reply has been swift and in an open discussion in Nature a large number of influential evolutionary biologists expressed their shock and dislike for the move. Interesting stuff which, in many ways, transcends the mere science.
Adrian gave us the background for the argument, the elements to understand both sides and, in a characteristic manner, allowed each of us to make up our minds. And of course, in the discussion the ensued the differences between humans and the rest of the animals played an interesting role though at the end, like it or not, biology is a leading force and at its heart, in a curious manner, genes and their connction with the phenotype.