The Evolution Institute

The Coevolution of Corporations and Capital Markets

EI — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:11:19 +0000

Bernard Winograd, Former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Prudential, Inc and EI’s Executive Advisory Board Member, introduces ideas about the behaviors and functions of corporations from a Darwinian perspective. Bernard’s paper is published in the Wharton Real Estate Review

Evolution in the American Journal of Play

EI — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:01:48 +0000

The Evolution Institute’s focal topic Play: Empowering Neighborhoods and Restoring Outdoor Play is featured in a special edition of the American Journal of Play

Director of the EI talks with NPR about The Neighborhood Project

EI — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:23:42 +0000

David Sloan Wilson talks with NPR about his new book The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time. The book explores how evolution can be used to improve the quality of life within the City of Binghamton and beyond. Listen to the discussion here.

New York Times Article about Evolution and Egalitarianism

EI — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:23:13 +0000

Science writer, Natalie Angier of the New York Times writes about the evolution of human egalitarianism and its consequence for how we manage our modern day societies. The article describes the corrosive social effects of inequality and how our ancestors were able to solve this problem. The Evolution Institute will discuss this topic and more in the upcoming Quality of Life workshop.

EI and Binghamton Neighborhood Project profiled in Nature magazine

EI — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:25:36 +0000

The Binghamton Neighborhood Project, which conducts community-based research from an evolutionary perspective, is profiled in the June 9 2011 issue of Nature magazine in an article titled “Darwin’s City”. The BNP is directed by EI President and serves as an implementation site for EI projects. It is organized in the same way as long term field sites for the study of nonhuman species. What’s business as usual for an evolutionary ecologist turns out to be a novel approach to community-based research. The EI seeks to develop other implementation sites based on the same principles.

EI-inspired Design Your Own Park Competition in running for Philips Livable Cities Award

EI — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:14:32 +0000

The Binghamton Neighborhood Project’s citywide Design Your Own Park competition is in the running for the Philips Corporation’s Livable Cities Award, which will be announced in Amsterdam on April 27. The DYOP competition was designed by EI president David Sloan Wilson, who also directs the Binghamton Neighborhood Project. It is a friendly competition among neighborhoods to turn vacant lots and other neglected spaces into parks of their own design. It is richly informed by evolutionary principles developed during EI workshops, especially the workshop on Empowering Neighborhoods and Restoring Outdoor Play that was held in Binghamton to interface with DYOP. The project was one of eight chosen out of over 450 entries submitted worldwide, and it placed second in a public vote among the eight that will be considered as part of the judging criteria. The first prize includes a cash award of 70,000 euros, which would be used to help implement the parks.

Evonomics volume to be published by University of Chicago Press

EI — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 08:34:58 +0000

The University of Chicago Press will publish an anthology with original essays introducing each section titled Evonomics: Evolutionary Science as a New Foundation for Economic Theory and Policy. The volume will be based on our November 2009 conference titled “The Nature of Regulation: How Evolutionary Theory Can Inform The Regulation of Large-scale Human Social Interactions” that was organized in collaboration with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). It will be co-edited by David Sloan Wilson and Geoffrey Hodgson, one of the foremost authorities on economics in relation to evolutionary theory. We regard it as fitting that the volume will be published by U. Chicago Press, given the importance of the University of Chicago in the history of economic thought. Our proposal for the volume, which will be published in 2012, provides a glimpse of its scope and justification.

EI submits white paper to National Science Foundation

EI — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 08:17:41 +0000

The EI has submitted a white paper titled ”The Relevance of Evolutionary Science for Economic Theory and Policy” to the National Science Foundation in response to their “Dear Colleague” letter for future research in the social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) sciences. This initiative on the part of NSF signals their awareness that current economic theory is not working, requiring an influx of fresh ideas. Our white paper agrees with their assessment but also points out the profound lack of integration among the many disciplines comprising the SBE sciences. Future research must avoid both problems, which requires speaking a common language. Evolutionary theory can provide the common language for the SBE sciences, as it is already doing in the biological sciences.Our white paper is based on EI projects in collaboration with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), starting with our “Nature of Regulation” conference held in November 2009 and continuing with smaller working group projects during the next two years. It includes over 60 signatories, representing an interdisciplinary community organized by the EI that is already speaking with a single voice.

A Workshop and Symposium on Empowering Neighborhoods and Restoring Outdoor Play

EI — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:34:11 +0000

Evolutionist David Sloan Wilson and Psychologist Peter Gray have organized a workshop and symposium titled” Empowering Neighborhoods and Restoring Outdoor Play“. An evolutionary perspective on neighborhood development and play theory will serve as an important tool in developing policies directed at improving the well-being of our children and neighborhoods. For more information visit bnp.binghamton.edu

New Address for Evolution Institute Website

EI — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:42:41 +0000

After an unfortunate period of intermittent availability, we are pleased to announce that the Evolution Institute website is now accessible at evolution-institute.org – please update your links and bookmarks accordingly.