Quotes of Richard C. Francis - somelinesforyou

“ The counsel of caution regarding our ability to establish human mind/brain adaptation goes unheeded by those who call themselves "evolutionary psychologists"; they are not at all chary of claiming to have demonstrated all manner of human cognitive adaptations on what for mainstream evolutionary biology is very weak evidence. But evolutionary psychology was born and nurtured outside of the mainstream of evolutionary biology. It was developed by psychologists who sought a unifying monolithic framework for psychology to replace that of a discredited behaviorism. It is not surprising, therefore, that the "evolution" in evolutionary psychology run exceedingly shallow. For instance, the developmental turn in mainstream evolutionary biology occured before the advent of evolutionary psychology but has never been so much as acknowledged by evolutionary psychologists. Their use of genomic evidence is extremely limited, and their awareness of the increasingly sophisticated methods and tools for genealogical (phylogenetic) reconstructions seems completely absent. In this, evolutionary psychology stands in marked contrast to evolutionary anthropology, for which evo devo, genomics, and genealogical techniques essential for applying the comparative method have become increasingly central. ”

- Richard C. Francis

“ This loss of genetic diversity extends to individual breeds, most dramatically in the Holstein. Through artificial insemination, a few bulls are responsible for the vast majority of Holstein pregnancies. Two bulls, a father and son, are responsible for 7 percent of the genomes of the entire American population of Holsteins; genetic diversity be damned. ”

- Richard C. Francis

“ During much of the Paleolithic, reindeer were a primary food source for Eurasians, but judging by the relative scarcity of their representations in cave paintings, they were not as highly respected as aurochs, horses, and bison. They don't seem to have been deemed sacred. By the time domestication commenced, that attitude had changed, as evidenced by the Bronze Age megaliths depicting flying reindeer—a motif that still figures prominently in the religion of contemporary Siberian tribes such as the Evenki and Eveny. Some believe that Santa's flying reindeer ultimately derive from these myths. I don't, but I have been called Scrooge more than once. ”

- Richard C. Francis
  • 1