ba05105@binghamton.edu wrote:
>
> On Mon, 28 Oct 1996 wally@cats.ucsc.edu wrote:
>
> > While we're at it, let's abolish anthropocentrism, primatocentrism
> > mammalocentrism, biocentrism, and perhaps galaxocentrism. How about
> > cosmocentrism?
> >
> On this point, there was an interesting article in the Science Times of
> the NYT about two weeks ago. Can't remember the scientists name...
It was undoubtedly Stephen Jay Gould, whose latest book "Full House: The
Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin" is an enthralling new attempt
to suggest a scientific definition of "progress". Gould criticizes
anthropocentric models for the evolution of life, pointing out that the
most significant evolution has taken place among the largest category of
organisms on this planet: bacteria. Humans are at the far tail of a
right-skewed curve that represents an increase in the range of biotic
complexity. They represent evolutionary "progress" only insofar as they
have resulted from an increase in the overall variety of the "full
house" of all biological organisms.
John Hoopes
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Kansas