Evolving Thoughts

In England’s green and wet land

So, I finally have access to the internet. For the past few days I’ve been either in London, on planes, trains or in Exeter, where I am now for the ISHPSSB biennial conference of philosophers and historians (and some sociologists) of science.

In London I walked myself silly (getting the worst blister I have had since I was a teenager back in the late Pliocene), visiting, among other things, Jim Mallet at the University College London. This was where the Galton Lab was, which means it’s where Pearson Fisher, Haldane and various others worked. For those who do not know, these are Great Names in evolutionary biology. I also got to see Jeremy Bentham’s remains on display in the foyer. But apart from visiting and talking to Jim, the highlight was seeing Robert Grant’s museum. Grant, you will no doubt recall, was the first guy to talk about evolution to Darwin when young Chas. was a student at Edinburgh (his version of evolution was Geoffroy’s, and more like Lamarck’s than the Darwinian kind).

It rained here. This appears to be of concern to the low lying areas of the Midlands and Wales, where there have been floods. Apparently this event made the whole rest of the world stop doing anything newsworthy for about four days, because UK news reported nothing else.

I also had a chance to see Robin Levett again. Robin was my host in my last trip to the Auld Country, and we partook of the national cuisine of Britain, Indian food (and beer).

So the Ish conference begins tonight with beer (philosophers, remember?) and continues thereafter until Sunday. My talk is of course, first thing on Sunday. After the conference dinner. I will be lucky if the janitors turn up to the session… same thing happened at the last conference I attended. Memo to self: never talk at any conference that runs through a Sunday.

I almost found my way to Mornington Crescent, but got out at Euston. Nevermind.

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Comments (7)

  2. Oh, if I’d known you were visiting Jim, I’d have asked you to give him my regards.
    If you got out in Euston, I guess that means you’re in nip.
    Bob

  3. Well, I’m glad you made it — got through passport control and everything, even after the last time!
    Do have a good time and leave the poor Brits a pint or two drown their sorrow over Blair retiring.

  4. I’ve seen video of the English flooding; houses half drowned, that sort of thing. Narration has talked of days worth of rain falling inside an hour. Whole thing means disruption in communication, transportation, and travel; loss of productivity; loss and consumption of resources; damage to construction; that sort of thing. All this on an unprecedented scale. Just think of the loss in livestock, wildlife, and alien big cats alone.

  5. My talk is of course, first thing on Sunday

    So, it should be all over bar the shouting by now. How did it go? Did you bring the house done, have ’em rolling in the aisles – metaphorically speaking, of course?

  6. So, it should be all over bar the shouting by now. How did it go? Did you bring the house done, have ’em rolling in the aisles – metaphorically speaking, of course?

    Or, more prosaically, did anyone turn up apart from you and the other speakers?
    If so, how did the iconoclasm go?

  7. I had a full room of mostly sober folk. And they actually asked intelligent questions. I mostly answered intelligently being mostly sober myself. I don’t know that I convinced the skeptics but I got some heavyweight support.

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