Lives on Earth

evolution

  • Friends as Allies?

    “A friend will always be there for you.” Yes, but why? Tracing the evolutionary roots of friendship is proving to be more difficult than expected. What are the evolutionary benefits of friendship? Friendship doesn’t boost the survival of the family… Continue reading

  • A Biologist Looks at Religion, the Humanities, and Our Compulsive Sociability

    At age 85, the evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson has a new book out, ambitiously titled The Meaning of Human Existence. It’s a philosophical weaving of Wilson’s themes of human and animal sociality and its consequences for humanity. Here as… Continue reading

  • The Future of Evolution

    The full title of Carter Phipps’ 2012 book is Evolutionaries: Unlocking the Spiritual and Cultural Potential of Science’s Greatest Idea. Drawing on the work of many writers and current thinkers, Phipps describes applications of the concept of evolution beyond biological… Continue reading

  • Non-Theists, God’s Love, and Evolution

    One of the benefits that believers gain from religion is the feeling that their deity cares for them. Mainstream Christians, Jews, Moslems generally believe either that god loves them and intervenes actively on their behalf or that god keeps a… Continue reading