E. O. Wilson

Now we're getting towards island biogeography.

This is an observation made by Robert MacArthur and Ed Wilson, that plots on the y-axis, on a log scale, the number of species on an island, and on the x-axis the area of the island in square miles.

And this is for the Sunda Islands, so this is in Indonesia.

And up here you've got the Philippines and New Guinea added to the Sunda Islands.

And they have lots of different surface areas.

I mean, if you just look at this little one and compare it to this big one, you're going to have a lot fewer birds on there than you are on there.

So in trying to come up with a general theory of biogeography, MacArthur and Wilson did the standard Cartesian analytical reduction of saying, what are the essential features of that system? What are the fewest things that we have to pay attention to, that will tell us something, a take-home message, some key message that we can pull out of the system? And they thought, well, Let's suppose that there isn't any evolution going on, and that all of the species we're considering already exist on some big continental landmass, and that they're getting onto islands in a process of immigration, and they're dying out on islands in a process of extinction.

And this is the number of species that are present on the island.

It was about primatology and how clues from the past inform how society is in the present.

Jolly's book led me to Edward O. Wilson, to biodiversity and conservation, to theories of how science and other disciplines are connected from physics all the way through music.

It's a historical accident, Wilson posited, that fields are divided into categories.

What is chemistry but emergent phenomena from physics? What's biology but emergent phenomena that arise from chemistry? During my second semester, I met a brilliant theoretical chemist, Professor John Straub.

This

guy, Edward O. Wilson, he's a biodiversity advocate.

And he's one of the best writers I've ever read.

Way before

And like, it's, it's just like, we're, we need to really keep biodiversity is important for keeping the checks and balances in natural ecosystems.

So I think we all need to care about not just our little, you know, micro house and like piece of earth, but like really look globally and care about the whole thing because we are so, I think climate scientists have said now that we are basically past the tipping point, so we really missed all of our targets.

And what Edward O. Wilson, the biodiversity advocate, the ant lover, was

telling us was

I can't really tell you what it is.

I mean, I'll just go back to Edward Wilson.

I mean, he was an ant specialist, you know.

I mean, the geyser was interested in ants.

They're always great to me, and it's always wonderful.

And so we spent time at Harvard in some of the offices of one of the great scientists from Alabama, Ed Wilson, who's now dead.

Unfortunately, I miss him badly.

E.O. Wilson.

And we spent time in his office remembering... his relationship to Alabama and why he was at Harvard and what he was doing there all those many years as he became a very famous scientist.

And I'm thinking, you know, the reason I want to be here is to make sure that Boston and Harvard and these scientists understand Alabama.

Is he right? Could it happen here? I guess that's the big question.

So E.O. Wilson, who is a famous Harvard biologist who recently passed away, one of my intellectual heroes, he studied, in his research, he studied social ants.

And he was once famously asked, Professor Wilson, what are your thoughts on socialism slash communism? And he paused and gave one of the greatest answers of all time.

He said, great idea, wrong species.

Meaning... that the reason why communism has failed for 100 plus years in countless ecosystems is precisely because it is antithetical to some foundational principles that define our human nature, right? On the other hand, social ants have a reproductive queen, a indistinguishable cast of worker ants and soldier ants.

It's a good point.

here we go going to equalize so that we can all be equally miserable a great quote by e.o wilson was a famous harvard biologist he recently passed away he studied social ants social ants have a reproductive queen and then everybody else is indistinguishable the worker ants and the soldier ants are indistinguishable so he was asked one of the best quotes i've ever heard Professor Wilson, what are your views of communism? And he said, great idea, wrong species, meaning that social ants are communistic.

Human beings are not.

Some of us are taller, shorter, harder working, less harder working, more assertive, less assertive.

uh that he says that if we don't get our house in order and we don't sort of figure this out yeah we may uh uh that the we just need some more socialism here and we will uh solve this problem uh is he right could it happen here i guess that's a big question

So E.O. Wilson, who is a famous Harvard biologist who recently passed away, one of my intellectual heroes, he studied in his research, he studied social ants.

And he was once famously asked, Professor Wilson, what are your thoughts on socialism slash communism? And he paused and gave one of the greatest answers of all time.

He said, great idea, wrong species.

Meaning... that the reason why communism has failed for 100 plus years in countless ecosystems is precisely because it is antithetical to some foundational principles that define our human nature, right? other hand social ants have a reproductive queen a indistinguishable cast of worker ants and soldier ants so ants are communistic humans are not some are taller shorter harder working less harder working and so that idea that we just need to tax those and then we will live in the beautiful unicornia.