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fortdixlover
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 1476
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 Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 7:28 pm Post subject: Threat from an academic goon? You be the judge. |
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Picked this up from LGF.
Threat from an academic goon? You be the judge.
| Prof. Robert Trivers wrote: | Wall Street Journal
Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
In regard to Alan Dershowitz’s commentary “Finkelstein’s Bigotry” (editorial page, May 4): In it he asserts that “He [Norman Finkelstein] has encouraged radical goons to email threatening messages; ‘Look forward to a visit from me,’ reads one. “Nazis like [you] need to be confronted directly.”
But all of this is untrue. I wrote the letter in question (April 15, 2007), but without Prof. Finkelstein’s knowledge, interest or approval. The key sentences had nothing to do with Prof. Finkelstein: ‘Regarding your rationalization of Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians, let me just say that if there is a repeat of Israeli butchery toward Lebanon and if you decide once again to rationalize it publicly, look forward to a visit from me. Nazis – and Nazi-like apologists such as yourself – need to be confronted directly. [that seems a pretty clear threat, especially considering the bio below... - ed.]
As for being an academic goon: I am late responding because I was in Europe lecturing after receiving the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Robert Trivers
Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences
Rutgers University
Somerset, NJ
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Wikipedia bio on Trivers:
| Quote: | Robert L. Trivers, (born 19 February 1943) is an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist, most noted for proposing the theories of reciprocal altruism (1971), parental investment (1972), and parent-offspring conflict (1974). Other areas in which he has made influential contributions include an adaptive view of self-deception (first described in 1976) and intragenomic conflict. Along with George C. Williams, Trivers is arguably one of the two most influential evolutionary theorists alive today.
Trivers originally went to Harvard to study mathematics, but wound up studying U.S. history in preparation to become a lawyer. He took a psychology class after suffering a breakdown, and was very unimpressed with the state of psychology. He was prevented from getting into Yale law school by his breakdown, and wound up with a job writing social science textbooks for children (never published, due in part to presenting evolution by natural selection as fact). This exposure to evolutionary theory led him to graduate work with Ernst Mayr at Harvard 1968-1972 (he never got a bachelor's degree anywhere). He was on faculty at Harvard 1973-1978, then moved to UC Santa Cruz.
He met Huey P. Newton, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, in 1978 when Newton applied (while in prison) to do a reading course with him as part of a graduate degree in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz. Trivers and Newton became close friends, Newton was godfather to one of Trivers' daughters. Trivers joined the Black Panther Party in 1979. Trivers and Newton published an analysis of the role of self-deception by the flight crew in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 (Trivers, R.L. & Newton, H.P. Science Digest 'The crash of flight 90: doomed by self-deception?' November 1982, pp 66,67,111).
Trivers was a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz 1978-1994. He is currently a Rutgers University notable faculty member.
He was named one of the 100 greatest thinkers and scientists of the 20th Century by Time magazine [1], and was recently awarded the 2007 Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for "his fundamental analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation"[2][3]. |
US Soldiers, the leftist ideological poison that almost destroyed you remains an active force even today.
-- FDL
_________________
"Millions For Defense, Not One Cent For Tribute" - Thomas Jefferson on paying ransom to Muslim corsairs (pirates). |
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:40 am Post subject: |
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FDL,
FDL, ya know, as a Ft. Dix 'graduate' myself, I only comment here to 'play devil's advocate':
| Quote: | | never published, due in part to presenting evolution by natural selection as fact |
is the 'scariest' part of your story. ummm, when was 'natural selection' crossed off as fact???? must be when I became a conservative! So I 'feel' for the good professor. In spite of the fact that, like you, I hold a very low opinion of Harvard Professors, especially Derschowitz! Now I'm off to find out more about the good SD professor. (see, you've 'inspired' me!)
Deuce |
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:32 am Post subject: |
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FDL,
OK, I stand corrected...now I think I'm slowly coming to grips with the reasons the good professor was never 'published'. Pop psychology ... yep, the good perfessor is a 'pop psychologist'! In spite of the fact that he probably thinks of himself as a 'pop biologist'!
| Quote: | | Human studies delving into the intricacies of the T-W effect have also produced conflicting findings. Chacon-Puignau & Jaffe (1997) found, that in Venezuela, sex ratio at birth (SRB), as well as fetal and infant deaths, were related to economic and marital conditions. Unmarried females were found to produce significantly more females than were married females. |
(The 'T' in this quote is 'the good professor' in question!...)
http://fates.cns.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/trivers.htm
Thank you for bringing 'pop psychology' into our lives! I've often wondered what people found so fascinating in that twisted fringe branch of academe (prolly explains why pop psychologists are all extreme fringe left liberals)
now for my 'bold' quote:
| Quote: | | Trivers-Willard Effect: Typically, there is thought of a 50/50 sex ratio in local breeding populations, but under certain conditions this is not true. Under certain conditions natural selections favors deviations from the typical 50/50 split. In 1973 Trivers and Willard theorized that a mother can adjust her offspring's gender ratio to maximize her reproductive success. Consider first that a mother in good condition will produce offspring in better condition. Second, consider that condition affects male reproductive success more than female reproductive success. For a male in top condition will exclude other males from reproducing and, therefore, will impregnate more females himself. So, a mother in good condition that produces a son will have more surviving offspring than if she produced a female. |
Clearly, the good professor was ahead of his time in his vision of the human species....that coming from a now 'true believer' parent of 3 wonderful sons! 
Deuce |
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