“I suppose most scientists—most authors—have one piece of work of which they would say: It doesn’t matter if you never read anything else of mine, please at least read this.”
Richard Dawkins wrote that in a note to a 1989 paperback edition of his book The Extended Phenotype. Ryan appeals to this sentiment when it comes to the idea he outlines in this episode. Poor Harland has to sit and listen to Ryan talk about his “big idea”; one of resource-driven evolution that either drags a population down where a relic gets new life or pushes it up where abundance begets abundance, the results of which are sometimes the formation of new modes and new lineages.
The Dawdlers
00:06:03 – Animal figurines/Diversity & Diversification/Ryan’s “My Story”/Being Different
00:24:38 – Episodic Synchrony
00:46:10 – Impoverishment & Enrichment/Growth Stages/Rate of Increase*
01:13:38 – Anthropogenic Systems/Agritourism/Elite Overproduction
01:40:24 – Examples/Apple Maggot Flies/Cupuladriid Bryozoans/Kelp Gulls/Melanopsid Gastropods
02:19:59 – Harland thinks Episodic Synchrony is Obvious/Convergent Memetics/Harland’s Seal of Approval
02:25:04 – The Prevalence Argument for Episodic Synchrony
*Too late, a mortified Ryan now realizes a slip of his tongue when he said (over and over) “reproductive rate” instead of “rate of increase” or “per capita rate of change” [Forehead slap]. GET IT RIGHT, RYAAAANN!!!
