Re: First Family and AAT

Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
6 Oct 1995 04:05:55 GMT

In article <hubey.812946542@pegasus.montclair.edu> H. M. Hubey,
hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu writes:

>>Give us a break with the differential equations bit, and sit down and
>>read a good text on evolutionary biology.. Doug Futuyama comes to mind.
>>Anyway, thanks for the exposure to truly primitive thought...
>>Ralph Holloway
>
>The reason I mention the DE bit is a very simple one. So far the
>kind of thinking I see posted here shows a very simple and
>primitive train of thought that is unsuitable even to explain
>simple processes of physics -- as in inanimate object behavior
>of the simplest kind -- let alone something as complex as
>evolution.

Since complex math seems to be able to solve all of our problems, perhaps
you should go ahead and apply some of it to the problem of human origins.
Either that or stop criticizing the field because it hasn't been done.

Dr. Holloway's suggestion should be taken very seriously. You clearly
have a wide and deep ignorance that needs fixing before you presume to
lecture anthropologists about the shortcomings of our field. I continue
to hear you say "why haven't anthropologists done this..." when I see no
evidence that you have done any reading to find out if it has been done
or not.

A poster in another thread suggested you should read the Journal of Human
Evolution and American Journal of Physical Anthropology. I strongly
concur. I also would recommend Klein's "The Human Career" as a good
text, as well as Foley's (?) "Another Unique Species". Until you've read
this material or similar stuff, you're wasting your breath to talk about
shortcomings in the field. I agree with you 100% that paleoanthro (like
all sciences) has dramatic shortcomings. However, you don't seem to know
what they are, and you won't until you educate yourself a little bit.

Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu