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Promoting discussion and collaboration in social and cultural evolution
Institutions: What Are They Good for?
Institutions – this was the common theme in the two workshops, in which I participated during the last two weeks (in Frankfurt and Knoxville). It is clear that institutions play an immensely important role in the rise of complex societies. But what precisely do they do? And how can we study institutions theoretically and empirically? […]
Posted in: Blogs
Economics Superbus II
February 9, 2015
by Peter Turchin
superbus: arrogant (Latin) Yesterday I leveled a serious charge at the economics profession, especially that part of it that provides advice to policy makers. So you might think that I would eagerly respond to the question that the organizers posed to us, how do we reform the economics? In fact, the opposite happened to me. […]
Posted in: Blogs
Economics Superbus I
February 8, 2015
by Peter Turchin
superbus: proud (Latin) During the past week I have been in Frankfurt, where I participated in a Strüngmann Forum Complexity and Evolution: A New Synthesis for Economics. The basic premise that motivated the discussions among the 40 scientists at the Forum was that the field of economics is mired in two deeply flawed paradigms: rational […]
Posted in: Blogs
My Crusade Against Cultural Stupidity, Part I
February 2, 2015
by David Sloan Wilson
I just flew from Ithaca, New York to Frankfurt, Germany with a long layover at Newark Airport. My ticket, printed out a day before the flight, said that the gate for the Frankfurt flight had not yet been assigned. When I arrived at Newark airport’s terminal C, I checked the departure board and saw the […]
Posted in: Blogs
Men Are from Mars
January 31, 2015
by Peter Turchin
A comment to the guest blog by Scott Atran cast doubt on whether he, “a Euro-American white male,” is even capable of transcending his ethnocentrism. I immediately stepped in and cut this discussion short, because I know too well how destructive such arguments can be. But it doesn’t mean that I believe that science is […]
Posted in: Blogs
Strungmann Forum policy on blogging
January 30, 2015
by SEF Editor
Some of you might be wondering where David’s post, “Complexity and Evolution: a new synthesis for economics,” got off to after it was published on Thursday, Jan 12. Unfortunately, the Strungmann board has a policy against blogging during the conference. We regret having to pull the blog, but we promise to blog about the Forum […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
My Venture into the World of Indy Publishing
January 25, 2015
by Peter Turchin
Probably the most important thing the academics do is publishing – articles in peer-reviewed journals, chapters in edited volumes, and monographs. The motto is “publish or perish.” Over the last century scientific publishing has been dominated by for-profit publishers. A major exception is journals published by scientific societies, but many journals have been sold by […]
Posted in: Blogs
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February 18, 2015
by Peter Turchin
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