News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:About the origins of the equals sign by mechanical_fish on Friday September 05, 2008 @08:31AM (#295799)
Thanks. I was thinking about dropping stronger hints of this, actually -- I distinctly recall seeing various arguments of Gould's being torn to shreds by Dawkins and/or Dennett, and I have gradually developed the habit of taking my extensive collection of Gould's books (given to me as gifts), stacking them in a little pile on my shelf, and then actually reading something else -- but I am neither educated enough in evolutionary biology nor recent enough in my reading to pull a specific quote, and the last thing we need is more heat and less light from a total non-biologist like myself.

Also, I haven't read an essay that is quite so direct as this one that you link to. I'd point out that this link illustrates my point: When scientists get down to business and talk about each other's work, they do not mince words. It's kind of refreshing, actually.

Re:About the origins of the equals sign by hhm on Friday September 05, 2008 @01:46PM (#296097)
Thanks a lot, both of you for your replies. I hadn't imagined that Gould could be on that position. I might have asked the wrong geneticist indeed!