"In this episode, Mac Parker and Anatarah Bin AlKaf have a casual chat on Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins seminal book the Dialectical Biologist. They cover why this book remains a key contribution to Marxist theory, philosophy of nature, and philosophy of technology. Along the way, the conversation tackles the influence of Friedrich Engels on Marxist science historiography and science critique from Boris Hessen to the Max Planck institute’s historical epistemology research program. Our discussion culminates in a call for an integrative approach—one that unites political philosophy and science, the local and the global—in the spirit of the dialectical biologists’ vision.

The books discussed were (or alluded to):

- The Dialectical Biologist (1985) by Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin

- Biology Under the Influence (2007) by by Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin

- The Social and Economic Roots of the Scientific Revolution (2009) ed. Gideon Freudenthal and Peter McLaughlin

- Abstraction and Representation (1996) by Peter Damerow"

https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-5-about-143494866

#Science #Biology #Marxism #Epistemology #DialecticalBiology #PoliticalPhilosophy

This evening, a friend sent me the first part of an interview with Jannie Hofmeyr "Mapping Theories of Life into Cell Biochemistry, Part I: Robert Rosen"

It's very enjoyable - especially Hofmeyr's take on the formal cause in the case of "protein folding" is insightful.

#biology #RobertRosen #DialecticalBiology #complexity #categorytheory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=646USV-s2kk

hello I will do an #introduction

i am not coming from twitter but thought i would use this opportunity to join one of the few internet applications that i think is cool and would like to support.

i find joy in #wildlife #birding #conservation and probably will use this site mostly as a repository for my pictures of birds and other animals that i see around #ottawa and #easternontario where i live

will follow people doing interesting work in #ecology, #CommunityScience, #CitizenScience, #limnology

i will also boost tech industry critics who do good research and write about silicon valley hubris and the harms caused by the internet

politically i feel some affinity towards #luddism #ecosocialism #marxism #DialecticalBiology #SocialEcology #PoliticalEcology #anticapitalism #ConvivialConservation but i am not particularly dogmatic or sectarian and currently lack the energy to argue about politics on the internet; and will connect with people who share common interests even if they are not philosophically or politically aligned with me (exceptions apply but these are already covered by the community rules for this instance)

other interests include #FolkHorror #FolkHorrorRevival #HorrorFiction #CosmicHorror #NatureHorror #FairyHorror #LandscapeHorror and #horror in general; as well as music, particularly #metal #punk and more lately, #ambient; i guess in some ways a synthesis of this would be anything related to #hauntology #psychogeography and the #weird