127 - Arvid Agren - The Gene's-Eye View

Two for Tea Podcast

General Arvid’s website: https://arvidagren.com/ Buy Arvid’s book ‘The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution’: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-genes-eye-view-of-evolution-9780198862260?cc=us&lang=en Follow Arvid on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arvidagren References Daniel’s Areo review of Arvid’s ‘The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution’: https://areomagazine.com/2022/02/28/selfish-genery-j-arvid-agrens-the-genes-eye-view-of-evolution/ Two for Tea episode featuring Sean B. Carroll: https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/77-sean-b-carroll-revolutionising-our-understanding-of-evo-biology?in=twoforteapodcast/sets/evolutionary-biology-on-two Timestamps 00.00 Opening and introductions. 4:59 Why Arvid wanted to write his book ‘The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution’. 5:57 Daniel reads a passage from Arvid’s book. 9:00 The sociological aspects of the gene’s-eye view. How did Arvid become interested in evolutionary biology and the gene’s-eye view? Evolutionary biology’s links with history and philosophy. 13:50 Similarities between Richard Dawkins and Arvid’s background interest in evolutionary biology. Arvid outlines the selfish gene theory and its intellectual history. 18:47 Are some of the arguments over the gene’s-eye view terminological rather than substantial? What if ‘The Selfish Gene’ had been called ‘The Immortal Gene’? 19:58 Stephen Jay Gould vs. Dawkins: critiques of selfish genery. What questions were Gould and Dawkins separately interested in, and what does this tell us about their disagreements? 27:18 Evolutionary developmental (evo devo) biology and its relationship to selfish gene theory. 31:01 Is the evo devo/selfish gene binary really valid? E.g. Dawkins’ contributions to evo devo. 33:21 What are the most compelling critiques of the selfish gene view? What does Arvid think of the alternative ways - evo devo, the extended synthesis, etc - of looking at evolution? Why is the selfish gene view valuable? In which senses is the selfish gene view incomplete? Pluralism and preferences in science. 44:38 The empirical consequences of the gene’s-eye view: extended phenotypes and selfish genetic elements. Plus: Salman Rushdie and W.D. Hamilton’s “eternal disquiet within.” 58:40 Why should scientists study the history of ideas? 1:01:37 The role of metaphorical thinking in science. 1:06:32 The sociological reception of the selfish gene view. 1:10:04 What is the current standing and future of the gene’s-eye view? 1:14:30 The extended evolutionary synthesis: is the Modern Synthesis outdated? 1:19:32 Is there something Arvid would have liked to say but didn’t get the chance to? 1:20:31 Last words and outro.