Is Liberalism an Evolutionarily Stable Strategy?

This is a remarkable article, given what we have been talking about in class.

Excerpt:

The liberal baby bust
By Phillip Longman
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.
This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.

It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future — one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.

Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.

In Utah, where more than two-thirds of residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 92 children are born each year for every 1,000 women, the highest fertility rate in the nation. By contrast Vermont — the first to embrace gay unions — has the nation's lowest rate, producing 51 children per 1,000 women.

This is a fascinating problem, one we have not talked about in class. The proportions in even an otherwise stable polymorphic population might be responsive to changes in institutions. If a society adopts majority rule, in particular, there can be a tipping point. And, if it is true that conservatives are reproducing (much) faster than liberals....Well, you know.

In particular: more conservative education, more emphasis on religion, perhaps teaching creation in some states with particularly high proportions of religious right voters.

What does this say about democracy? Does the will of the majority contain moral force? Or does it just reflect different rates of reproduction, rather than persuasion?

(Nod to DD, who picked up on both the article and its implication)

Professor Rosenberg Wins Honor!

ALEXANDER ROSENBERG WINS ROMANELL-PHI BETA KAPPA
PROFESSORSHIP IN PHILOSOPHY
Lectures to Address Controversies on Darwinism

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Professor Alexander Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole Professor of
Philosophy at Duke University, has been awarded the Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship in Philosophy for 2006-07.

Each year, the professorship is presented to a philosophy scholar in recognition of
distinguished achievement and the scholar’s past or potential contribution to public understanding of philosophy. Recipients receive a stipend of $7,500 and are expected to present three public lectures at their institutions.

John Churchill, Secretary of the Society, states that the “Romanell Professorship, with its three thematically related lectures, is an opportunity for PBK to promote philosophical inquiry and to honor the recipient’s important contributions to the field.”

Rosenberg’s lecture series is titled “The Meaning of Darwinism” and proposes to guide
the listener through the theoretical place and role of Darwinism within the natural sciences, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences.

David Wong, Chair of the Philosophy Department at Duke University, states that “With a body of distinguished achievement in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of biology in particular, Alex Rosenberg is the philosopher to address the opportunities and the problems brought by the biological sciences.”

Rosenberg has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a National Science Foundation Senior Scholar, and a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. In 1993, he won the Lakatos Award from the London School of Economics for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science. A prolific scholar, Rosenberg has authored approximately 170 articles and ten books.

His B.A. was from City College of New York and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins.
The professorship is made possible by an endowment from the late Patrick Romanell,
H.Y. Benedict Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso, and his wife, Edna.

ABOUT PHI BETA KAPPA: Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society. It has chapters at 270 colleges and universities and half a million members throughout the country. The Romanell-PBK Professorship is part of the Society’s mission to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression. Among
the Society’s other programs are lectureships, a fellowship, a professorship, a visiting scholar program, and publication of an award-winning quarterly, The American Scholar.

Tragedy of the Commons, and Genital Handshakes

Interesting story from CNN, on bonobos.

Excerpt:

The animals are known for greeting rival groups with genital handshakes and sensual body rubs. Bonobo spats are swiftly settled -- often with a French kiss and a quick round of sex.

Despite all the sex, however, female bonobos give birth to a single infant only once every five years, making the species especially vulnerable.

The bonobo, or pan paniscus, is native only to the vast rain forest in this huge central African nation, living high off the ground in treetop nests.

As few as 5,000 may now remain in Congo, down from an estimated 100,000 in 1984, said Ino Guabini, a primatologist with the World Wildlife Fund.


And:

"There is no question that bonobos are seriously threatened," Guabini said, speaking over a shrill forest symphony of birds, animals and insects. "We need urgent measures or there is no way we can protect the species."

But for poor villagers, bonobos can be lucrative business, with much of the meat heading for expensive, clandestine meals at restaurants in the cities.

One bonobo can earn $200 for Richard Ipaka, a 50-year-old part-time poacher who lives in the provincial capital, Mbandaka.

"That's enough money for two months," he said.

Like many Congolese, he said he did not know bonobos are found in the wild only in his country. And like many others, he was skeptical that the ape is endangered.

"Our ancestors have been eating bonobos for centuries. How could they disappear?" Ipaka said.

But the peace-loving bonobos are increasingly difficult to sight, and not just because they're good at hiding, suspended from the high branches of trees or swiftly traversing the lattice of thick, muddy roots strewn over the forest floor.


Interesting common pool resource problem. Suppose the bonobo is worth $200 dead to me, and $300 alive. But if I don't kill the bonobo and sell the meat, I think you will. So we get a PD problem, with each potential hunter fearing the sucker's payoff of $0 if they don't hunt.

ATSRTWT

(And, if you don't know what ATSRTWT means, check here....)

(NOD to the lovely and talented JEB, at UNC)