Showing posts with label Natural History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natural History. Show all posts
 | Funny Wonderful Life A Comment on Insight & Humor  Physics equations? Are you sure you want to be a cartoonist? |
"Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood.
It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition."
Stephen Jay Gould
Insight & Humor The wit and humor in the recognition of a truth are often important inspirations and by-products of scientific insight (and other areas of human endeavor). Humility like science has a tendency toward self-correction. I've always believed you should take your work seriously, but not necessarily yourself too much. We often laugh at jokes or cartoons because of the surprising insight it points to, or to hidden faults in logic it reveals, especially by turning stale ideas on their head. The right twist will get you hooked. Being able to communicate these insights with wit and humor goes deeper than mere entertainment. In my opinion there are no better communicators of joyous science (and life) insights than Stephen Jay Gould and Gary Larson. Both obviously passionate about science and life as well as masters at the art of communication. One by words and the other by images (with captions), they put forth revelations about nature, science and especially ourselves with warmth and humor. Sharing with us their precious view of our funny wonderful life! |  Jokes can't be explained. The enjoyment comes from just "getting it". However, when it's rendered with great talent what you get are hilarious perspectives. |
A Tiny Sample of Far Side Cartoons | Flattery, Inspiration & Imitation of Gary Larson |
 Gary Larson Species: Garylarsonus (beetle) Serratoterga larsoni (Ecuadorian butterfly) Strigiphilus garylarsoni Clayton, (owl louse)"I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along." Gary Larson The Far Side |  |
My Personal Favorite:   Strigiphilus garylarsoni   | From the Foreword of Gary Larson's Far Side Gallery 3 "...I also think I know why Gary Larson is numero uno by a mile among my colleagues - and that gives me something to write about. Being funny is surely a criterion, but simple chuckles do not explain why we have spontaneously chosen Gary Larson as national humorist of natural history. He has won by informal acclamation because he understands science so well. And I don't mean factual knowledge (this is available for the asking from textbooks and courses); I refer to the subtle nuances and insights - hundreds of them, sometimes several per cartoon - showing that Gary Larson knows the intimate details of our daily lives and practices... Gary Larson is a natural historian. The foibles of human relationships with the natural world, and the bad habits of culture and society thus reflected, provide his central theme... Everyone has a favorite based on his own career- and I expect that the items on doors of my colleagues are personal statements. I think we all feel that Gary made one just for us. In mine, a group of Protozoa are watching a slide show, and one says: "No wait! That's not Uncle Floyd! Who is that? Criminy, I think it's just an air bubble!" Why did this put me supine in the aisles? Well, when I took embryology in college, we had to make serial sections through a chick embryo. I made a technically perfect set of sections; I was so proud. But when I put my product under the microscope, I discovered that I had made a perfect serial section through an air bubble, and caught the embryo at some useless angle. I abandoned laboratory work and became a paleontologist. One final comment that says it all. It is the caption of another Protozoan cartoon, but take it more generally as the real reason, not only for Gary Larson's success, but for the deep respect that he has won from us: Two amoeba are watching television, and one says to the other: "Stimulus, response! Stimulus, response! Don't you ever think!" Most of us live like the amoeba, but Larson won't let us. There is no more important intellectual lesson, however it be taught." by Stephen Jay Gould  |
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You might also like: What Theories Need / Punctuated! Economics? / The Median Is The Message /
A Gould-en Heart
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A Gould-en Heart
© 2012 wonder404
 | Remembering  Stephen Jay Gould September 10 1941 - May 20 2002 |
| Years ago (circa 1989) Dr. Gould was invited to speak in the William Osler Series of talks at McGill University. I was just starting out as an undergrad at Concordia U at the time. Having read Ever Since Darwin, as well as having read his other books, I was also a subscriber to Natural History magazine just for his articles, so I was eager to hear him lecture in person. The lecture was amazing, yet, my girlfriend at the time and I along with some classmates, watched in shock as one woman stood up in the middle of the lecture and pointing a finger, started ranting and berating Gould (“Show me a tenth of eye Stephen Jay Gould… blah, blah, blah). Gould never lost his cool and simply but politely reminded the woman that everyone had come to hear HIM talk and not HER… So would she please SIT DOWN. She kept on going and security eventually escorted her out and his talk continued. But not without a good laugh. After the lecture, Dr. Gould hung out at the podium taking questions and what not, from a group of people gathered around him. My girlfriend knowing how keen I was, asked why I didn’t go down and join the group. She said, “This is a great chance for you to go and shake his hand.” In my youth I guess (I don’t know, I just didn’t like the groupie scene. It really turned me off.), I insisted “No thanks. I don’t want to shake his hand as just another 'fan'. I’d rather finish my studies and earn his handshake as a colleague.” We left soon after that and I kicked myself all the way home. For years I struggled with the feeling that I was too proud and stubborn for missing an opportunity to let him know his work was appreciated. Forward a few years later (circa 1993) and I was a graduate student. As fate would have it, this time Dr. Gould was invited to lecture by Concordia. After the lecture, The Biology Graduate Association (of which I was Co-treasurer) had invited him to a wine and cheese at our building across the street. Of course there were neo-Darwinists, Modern Synth and Dawkins fans in our dept. So you can imagine it was an amusing evening with much great discussion. At some point Dr. Gould and I got to talking alone and eventually I told him about the McGill lecture years before and the conversation I had with my girlfriend . Well, he slowly gave me a big smile and said “Peter, after talking with you tonight, I consider you a colleague...Put'er there..” He extended his hand, took mine and shook it vigorously. . . I can't put into words what that meant to me. And.. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on the verge of tears... I believe he was a man to be admired as much for his generosity and heart as for his mind and his work. My cherished souvenirs of that night was a signed copy of Wonderful Life, our conversation... but most of all was that handshake. |
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 Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the later years of his life, Gould also taught biology and evolution at New York University. Gould's most significant contribution to evolutionary biology was the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972.The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record. Most of Gould's empirical research was based on the land snail genera Poecilozonites and Cerion. He also contributed to evolutionary developmental biology, and has received wide praise for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny. In evolutionary theory he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. He campaigned against creationism and proposed that science and religion should be considered two distinct fields (or "magisteria") whose authorities do not overlap. Gould was known by the general public mainly from his 300 popular essays in the magazine Natural History, and his books written for a non-specialist audience. In April 2000, the US Library of Congress named him a "Living Legend". |     |
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You might also like: What Theories Need / Punctuated! Economics? / Funny Wonderful Life /
The Median Is The Message
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© 2013 wonder404
