The 5min MURC Panel Intro v1.0

I started sketching out what to say in our 5min panel intro talk (either by Scott and/or myself); would like your input! Please let me know ASAP if I mangled your topic/you have suggestions about presentation order/ the intro itself, etc.!

0:00 Intro to evol theory
– Power of evolutionary theory: can explain order, complexity (appearance of ‘design’) in neutral terms; “Through [Darwin’s] strange inversion of reasoning, the unintelligent forces can create intelligent design” (this guy qtd in Dennet 2009 PNAS; badly paraphrased, will look up when I get back to Vancouver…)
– Evolution has a unifying and integrating power — eg, ties together the diverse fields of biology. “Nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution” –Theodosius Dobzhansky
– The bridge between arts and sciences? The way to embody the mind (cite Slingerland?) and explain the “human realm” through natural means?
– We will explore, albeit very briefly, some potential applications of evolutionary theory outside biology.

1:30 Topics Overview
– We will examine the following topics in the following order:
1. Ashley — Animal Culture
– Not all inheritance in biol happens via genes; nor is cultural inheritance unique to humans?
2. Charlene — Memetics
– Critically exploring the possibility of a replicator in non-biological, namely cultural, evolution — are memes feasible?
3. Yana — Neutral Evolution
– Not everything is adaptive: Importance and application of selectively neutral and pluralistic models within biology and beyond. Would linguistic and cultural evolution lend better to less-adaptationistic explanations?
4. Scott — Genetic Algorithms
– The use of evolutionary algorithms in computer science and engineering has been growing over the years; is it truly an efficient design strategy to employ evolution for design considering its >99% fail rate?
(~3:00)
5. Peter — Autopsy of Thorn
– Old English contained a unique letter to encode the /th/ sound, the Thorn, which mysteriously disappeared; what were its origins, history and how has its demise come to be?
6. Lisi — Revolutions
[[I need your proposal please! =D]]
Tentative: Can evolutionary modeling be applied to revolutions of ideas [and politics?] in culture?
7. Ruth — Evolution of Religion
– Religion is often considered an anathema to evolution; however, can the development and changes of religion itself be explained with evolutionary theory?
4:30
– Afterwards, the panel will be wrapped up with a 15min discussion in the end. [We can carry on the discussion after at Location X]
-5:00-

[note to self]We need to find out if we can take the discussion outside/prolong it somehow if people would like to! This needs to be planned[/note to self]

What do you guys think?[[