- Description
A conversation about Biodiversity with Michael Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost of the paleontology division of the American Museum of Natural History; Paul Nurse, President of Rockefeller University and biologist & author Edward Wilson
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Schirmer 01/16/2009 08:04 AM Report
These are interesting topics and I would love to hear from a well respected preservationist/conservationist such as Ted Nugent. He may give insight
Torres 01/12/2009 10:55 PM Report
I would have liked to hear more from Novacek about his views on what he calls the sixth extinction. Although he agrees with the other contributors on the need to inform the public over the dangers of a human-induced loss of global biodiversity, he seems to paint it as an almost naturalistic process.
wolfheinl 12/10/2008 10:56 PM Report
Thanks for adding this topic to your conversations!
REMant 12/10/2008 11:26 AM Report
Diversity, bio or social, is necessary because ecology is the unit of evolution, not some part of it. There was a good series about this on PBS a few years ago, showing how animals spread seeds and so forth. This is a far more powerful argument than Rawls' and closer to the common natural law understanding of Hobbes, Locke and Montesquieu, etc., prior to the 19th c. Indeed many of Darwin's readers took his in that vein, and they were in fact right. Social Darwinism's idea of survival of the fittest stems from the kind of politics they opposed. I took an ecology course as an undergrad, and about the same time became acquainted with the ethologists, and first read Spencer. I was pleased to hear one of the guests mention the connection to our economic growth and sustainability, which I have already discussed here. The problem we have now is that while debts can easily be paid back in with dollars depreciated by inflation, in a deflation they must be paid back with appreciated ones, encouraging employers to cut payroll rather than simply lowering prices. Everyone then reverts to a bunker mentality. This in turn encourages monetary authorities to ratchet up inflation, which transfers even more wealth, decreases productivity, and starts the cycle again.