E-Book Overview
Now in paperback, Did Darwin Get It Right discusses some of the hottest issues in biology today. Its author, the eminently quotable John Maynard Smith, discusses such fascinating conundrums as how life began, whether the brain works like a computer, why most animals and plants reproduce sexually, and how social behavior evolved out of the context of natural selection--a process which would seem to favor selfishness. A humorous and insightful writer, John Maynard Smith has the special ability to convey the excitement of science, its complexity and fascination, without baffling or boring his readers. In these 28 brief and accessible essays, Maynard ranges widely over such issues as science and the media, the birth of sociobiology, the evolution of animal intelligence and the limitations of evolutionary theory. For his work on the evolution of sex, Smith won the Darwin medal from the Royal Society, and he has pioneered the application of game theory to animal behavior.
E-Book Content
Pid Parwin
-get it Rig6t7
By
the same author
The Theory of Evolution (Penguin Books, 1956) The Evolution of Sex (Cambridge University Press, 1 978) Evolution and the Theory of Games (Cambridge University Press, 1 982)
The Problems of Biology (Oxford University Press, 1 9 86)
Piti Parwin
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tssa�s on-games, Sex and tvolutlon
J0611 Maynard
Smit6
Professor of Biology University of Sussex
Chapman and Hall New·York
First published in 1989 by Chapman & Hall an imprint of Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc. 29 West 35 Street New York, NY 10001 © 1988 John Maynard Smith Printed in Great Britain All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Contents
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Maynard Smith, John, 1920Did Darwin get it right : essays on games, sex, and evolution / John Maynard Smith. em. p. Includes index. ISBN 0-412-01911-6 : $22.50 1. Evolution. 2. Sex (Biology). QH371.M298 1989 575--dcl9
3. Game theory.
1. Title.
89-21809 eIP
Part 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Science, Ideology and Myth
How to win the Nobel Prize Storming the Fortress Symbolism and Cha� ce Science and the MedIa Molecules are not Enough Science, Ideology and Myth Part 2
v
On Human Nature
1
3 8 15 22 30 39 51
53 7. The Birth of Sociob iology en (writt ge 8 . Mode ls of Cultural and Genetic Chan 61 with N. Warren) 81 9. Constraints on Huma n Behaviour 86 1 0 . Biology and the Behaviour of Man 93 1 1 . Tinkering 98 12. Boy or Girl 1 05 1 3 . Genes and Memes 1 14 1 4. Natural Selection of Culture ? v
Contents
VI
Part 3
Did Darwin get it Right?
123
Part 4
Games, Sex and Evolution
163
15. Palaeontology at the High Table 16 . Current Controversies in Evolutionary Biology 17. Did Darwin get it Right? 18. Do we need a new Evolutionary Paradigm? 19. Why Sex? 20. The Limitations of Evolution Theory 2l. The Evolution of Animal Intelligence 22. Evolution and the Theory of Games 23 . 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.
Part 5
The Laws of the Game
The Counting Problem Understanding Science Matchsticks, Brains and Curtain Rings H ypercycles and the Origin of Life Popper's WorId Rottenness is All Acknowledgements Index
125 13 1 148 157
165 180 192 202
PART
1
217
219 225 23 1 237 244 250
258 261
SCIENCE, IDEOLOGY AND MYTH I