Stephan Kubicki (ANU): Selection & drift & causal robustness
Other
Beatty 1984 got people thinking about how natural selection and random drift differ as causes of evolution. I think it is something like this: evolution by natural selection occurs when the causes of evolution are sufficiently robust; evolution by drift occurs when they're not. The focus will be on…
Rachael Brown (ANU): Learning, Exploratory Behaviours and the Evolution of Evolvability
Other
Explaining the evolution of evolvability is, for many, a central problem in evolutionary biology. In this paper I offer a solution to at least an aspect of this problem by giving an account of the evolution of one recognised source of evolvability—"exploratory behaviour" in development. In…
Peter Herbst Seminar: The Image of Law and Love in Abraham's Binding of Isaac
Other
The Image of Law and Love in Abraham’s Binding of Isaac We live under the rule of law, and we take pride in that fact. The rule of law marks us out as a civilized nation and people; we devise a rule of law index to measure other nations and peoples on their compliance with the rule of law ideal.…
Robert Kirby (ANU): Holistic and Non-Holistic Distributive Justice: The Intergenerational Case of Climate Change *Thesis Proposal Review*
Other
There are two ways in which we might think about some particular distributive problem — for example, the fair distribution of costs associated with human caused climate change. We might think about it non-holistically and, in so doing, attempt to justify principles for the regulation of these costs…