John Maynard Smith

John Maynard Smith
Born	6 January 1920(1920-01-06) London, England
Died	19 April 2004(2004-04-19) (aged 84) Lewes, East Sussex, England
Nationality	British
Fields	Evolutionary biologist and geneticist
Institutions	University of Sussex
Alma mater	University of Cambridge and University College London
Doctoral advisor	J.B.S. Haldane
Doctoral students	Andrew Pomiankowski Sean Nee
Known for	Game theory Evolution of sex Signalling theory
Notable awards	Balzan Prize (1991) Copley Medal (1999) Kyoto Prize (2001) Linnean Society of London's Darwin-Wallace Medal (2008)

John Maynard Smith,^[1] F.R.S. (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he then took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S. Haldane. Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution and theorized on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Second degree 1.3 University of Sussex 1.4 Evolution and the Theory of Games 1.5 Evolution of sex and other major transitions in evolution 1.6 Animal Signals 1.7 Death 2 Awards and Fellowships 3 Bibliography 4 Footnote and Reference 5 External links 5.1 University of Sussex 5.2 Other academia 5.3 Obituaries

Biography

Early years

John Maynard Smith was born in London, the son of a surgeon, but following his father's death in 1928 the family moved to Exmoor, where he became interested in natural history. Quite unhappy with the lack of formal science education at Eton College, Maynard Smith took it upon himself to develop an interest in Darwinian evolutionary theory and mathematics, after having read the work of old Etonian J.B.S. Haldane, whose books were in the school's library despite the bad reputation Haldane had at Eton for his communism.
On leaving school, Maynard Smith joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and started studying engineering at Trinity College Cambridge. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he defied his party's line and volunteered for service. He was rejected, however, because of poor eyesight and was told to finish his engineering degree, which he did in 1941. He later quipped that "under the circumstances, my poor eyesight was a selective advantage—it stopped me getting shot". The year of his graduation, he married Sheila Matthew, and they later had two sons and one daughter (Tony, Carol, and Julian). Between 1942 and 1947 he applied his degree to military aircraft design.

Second degree

Maynard Smith then took a change of career, entering University College London (UCL) to study fruit fly genetics under Haldane. After graduating he became a lecturer in Zoology at UCL between 1952 and 1965, where he directed the Drosophila lab and conducted research on population genetics. He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993).
He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the Party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).

University of Sussex

In 1962 he was one of the founding members of the University of Sussex and was a Dean between 1965-85. He subsequently became a professor emeritus. Prior to his death the building housing much of Life Sciences at Sussex was renamed the John Maynard Smith Building, in his honour.

Evolution and the Theory of Games

In 1973 Maynard Smith formalised a central concept in game theory called the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), based on a verbal argument by George R. Price. This area of research culminated in his 1982 book Evolution and the Theory of Games. The Hawk-Dove game is arguably his single most influential game theoretical model.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977. In 1986 he was awarded the Darwin Medal. He also developed and recovered from colon cancer.

Evolution of sex and other major transitions in evolution

Maynard Smith published a book entitled The Evolution of Sex which explored in mathematical terms, the notion of the "two-fold cost of sex". During the late 1980s he also became interested in the other major evolutionary transitions with the biochemist Eörs Szathmáry. Together they wrote an influential 1995 book The Major Transitions in Evolution, a seminal work which continues to contribute to ongoing issues in evolutionary biology.^[2][3] . A popular science version of the book, entitled The Origins of Life: From the birth of life to the origin of language was published in 1999.
In 1991 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Genetics and Evolution "For his powerful analysis of evolutionary theory and of the role of sexual reproduction as a critical factor in evolution and in the survival of species; for his mathematical models applying the theory of games to evolutionary problems" (motivation of the Balzan General Prize Committee). In 1995 he was awarded the Linnean Medal by The Linnean Society and in 1999 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize jointly with Ernst Mayr and George C. Williams. In 2001 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize.
In his honour, the European Society for Evolutionary Biology has an award for extraordinary young evolutionary biology researchers named The John Maynard Smith Prize.

Animal Signals

His final book, Animal Signals, co-authored with David Harper was published in 2003 on signalling theory.

Death

He died of lung cancer^[4]—sitting in a high-backed chair, surrounded by books—at his home in Lewes, East Sussex on April 19, 2004, 122 years to the day after the death of Darwin. At his funeral, one of his grandchildren said, "he was very smart... and a jolly nice person". He was survived by his wife Sheila and their children.

Awards and Fellowships

• Fellow, Royal Society (1977)
• Darwin Medal (1986)
• Frink Medal (1990)
• Balzan Prize (1991)
• Linnean Medal (1995)
• Royal Medal (1997)
• Crafoord Prize (1999)
• Copley Medal (1999)
• Kyoto Prize (2001)
• Darwin-Wallace Award (2008). This is bestowed every 50 years by the Linnean Society of London; Maynard Smith was one of thirteen co-recipients.

Bibliography

• Maynard Smith, J. (1958). The Theory of Evolution. London, Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-020433-4
  • 1993 edn ISBN 0-521-45128-0
• Maynard Smith, J. (1968) Mathematical Ideas in Biology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07335-9
• Maynard Smith, J. (1972) On Evolution. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-223-9
• Maynard Smith, J. and Price, G.R. (1973) The logic of animal conflict, Nature 246:15-18 doi:10.1038/246015a0
• Maynard Smith, J. (1974b) Models in Ecology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20262-0
• Maynard Smith, J. (1978d) The Evolution of Sex. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29302-2
• Maynard Smith, J. (ed.) (1981d) Evolution Now. London, Macmillan. ISBN 0-7167-1426-4
• Maynard Smith, J. (1982d) Evolution and the Theory of Games. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28884-3
• Maynard Smith, J. (1986b) The Problems of Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-289198-7
• Maynard Smith, J. (1988a) Did Darwin Get it Right?: Essays on Games, Sex and Evolution. London, Chapman & Hall. ISBN 0-412-03821-8
• Maynard Smith, J. (1989a) Evolutionary Genetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850231-1
• Maynard Smith, J. and Szathmáry, E. (1997) The Major Transitions in Evolution. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850294-X
• Maynard Smith, J. and Szathmáry, E. (1999) The Origins of Life: From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-286209-X
• Maynard Smith, J. and Harper, D. (2003) Animal Signals. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852685-7

[edit] Footnote and Reference

1. ^ His surname was Maynard Smith, not Smith, nor was it hyphenated.
2. ^ Sterelny, Kim (2007). Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest. Cambridge, U.K.: Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-780-0.  Also ISBN 978-1-84046-780-2
3. ^ Benton, Michael (2009). "Paleontology and the History of Life". In Michael Ruse & Joseph Travis. Evolution: The First Four Billion Years. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 80–104. ISBN 978-0-674-03175-3. 
4. ^ Obituary John Maynard Smith 1920-2004

External links

University of Sussex

• Press release announcing his death
• Tribute from his colleagues
• More tributes from colleagues
• List of publications

Other academia

• Freeview video 'The Origin of Life' A Royal Institution Discourse by the Vega Science Trust
• Freeview video 'Flight in Birds and Aeroplanes' A Masterclass by the Vega Science Trust
• John Maynard Smith Remembered - a series of (frequently amusing) recollections of John by his friends and colleagues.
• In conversation with John Maynard Smith FRS
• 2003 New Scientist interview
• Five short videos
• Video conversation with Robert Wright
• John Maynard Smith video at the Peoples Archive (interview by Richard Dawkins)
• http://meaningoflife.tv/video.php?speaker=maynard%20smith&topic=complete

Obituaries

• Guardian
• The Independent
• Telegraph
• The Times
• Corante
• Current Biology (pdf)
• Los Angeles Times
• New York Times
• DRAFT for Biology and Philosophy by Daniel Dennett
• Resonance [1]

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

The problem of heat can be a frustrating one if one can contend with the computer chips and how this may of resulted in a reboot of the machine( or it's death) into a better state of existence then what was previously used in working model form.

So the perfection is to the very defining model of a super race that is devoid of all the trappings in human form that can be ruled by the mistakes of combining body parts from Frankenstein sense to what the new terminator models have in taken over..but they are not human?

Multivac is a advanced computer that solves many of the world’s problems. The story opens on May 14, 2061 when Multivac has built a space station to harness the power of the sun – effectively giving humans access to a nearly unlimited source of power. Ah – and that’s the key, it is nearly unlimited. In fact two of Multivac’s technicians argue about this very idea – how long will humankind be able to glean energy from the universe? They decide to ask Multivac for the answer, and all it can say is “INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.” Oh well, it was a good idea, and through several smaller stories we see that many more people ask Multivac the same question. Multivac has a difficult time answering – it is a hard question after all! But when do we (and Multivac) finally learn the answer? As you’ve probably guessed – not until the very end of the story.

“You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can’t be done.”

“Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had died of old age?

Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?
Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant sounds of clicking relays ended.

Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

***

Timeframe for heat death

From the Big Bang through the present day and well into the future, matter and dark matter in the universe is concentrated in stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters. Therefore, the universe is not in thermodynamic equilibrium and objects can do physical work.^{[11], §VID.} The decay time of a roughly galaxy-mass (10¹¹ solar masses) supermassive black hole due to Hawking radiation is on the order of 10¹⁰⁰ years,^[12], so entropy can be produced until at least that time. After that time, the universe enters the so-called dark era, and is expected to consist chiefly of a dilute gas of photons and leptons.^{[11], §VIA.} With only very diffuse matter remaining, activity in the universe will have tailed off dramatically, with very low energy levels and very large time scales. Speculatively, it is possible that the Universe may enter a second inflationary epoch, or, assuming that the current vacuum state is a false vacuum, the vacuum may decay into a lower-energy state.^[11], §VE. It is also possible that entropy production will cease and the universe will achieve heat death.^{[11], §VID.}

^*** 

Creating the Perfect Human Being or Maybe.....

..... a Frankenstein? :)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer scienceintelligent agents,"^[1] where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success.^[2] John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956,^[3][4] which aims to create it. Textbooks define the field as "the study and design of defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."
The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence—the sapience of Homo sapiens—can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine.^[5] This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and limits of scientific hubris, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity.^[6] Artificial intelligence has been the subject of breathtaking optimism,^[7] has suffered stunning setbacks^[8][9] and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science.
AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other.^[10] Subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding differences of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.^[11] General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still a long-term goal of (some) research.^[12]

First Principles by Howard Burton

After returning home from our little vacation, I've hunkered down to read, and I thought this would be a good time to come to know of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada and how it started up.

As you know I've linked the Q2c site coming in September as well as I think after ten years this Institute has done a very good job of promoting a science based view toward the latest in the science frontiers.


Mike Lazaridis Donates Additional $50 Million to Perimeter Institute

In his remarks on behalf of the Government of Ontario, The Honourable John Wilkinson, Minister of Research and Innovation said: "Ontario's $3B Innovation Agenda focuses on our government acting as a catalyst to support our top researchers and entrepreneurs - extraordinary people like Mike Lazaridis who are leading the way to turn groundbreaking ideas and innovation into Ontario's next generation of jobs. Ontario's commitment to fundamental and applied research has not only been informed but also inspired by Mike's personal commitment to innovation, and his contributions to the Perimeter Institute. That's why our government has already invested over $65M to support this important initiative. This new investment will strengthen the Institute and the government-industry partnerships that have made it possible, and help us to continue to attract the world-class talent and the scientific knowledge Ontario needs to compete in the 21st century."See: Mike Lazaridis Donates Additional $50 Million to Perimeter Institute

Now you should know that I had received earlier notice of Howard's book from Bee of Backreaction. I have always been under the notion that what can be learnt can be learnt from all ages and there is no one aspect that we can not learn from, when we read and write about the thoughts of bloggers who have something to share with regard to their own journeys.

Bee of Backreaction writes:

The book tells the story of the first years of Perimeter Institute. From Mike Lazaridis' donation, over the search for a name, for a mission, for a location, the joy of building constructions, the hiring of the first faculty members, the establishment of PI's public outreach program, and the successful acquisition of governmental funding, to Howard's departure.

It is very entertainingly written and quite informative in addition, though I admittedly had hoped for more gossip stories about the research and the researchers. The chapter about who talked to whom when and where to pull the strings for governmental support is somewhat lengthy and tiresome, but provides interesting inside views. The book also has an amusing chapter titled "The Trouble with Physicists" about the difficulties in saving scientists from administrating themselves into dysfunctionality. I'm very tempted to quote the funniest paragraphs, but I think you should read the book yourself. It comes with some characterizations of well-known physicists that are quite to the point indeed.

The book is probably more interesting if you know some of the people involved, but besides this it conveys authentically and passionately the fascination, joy and importance of theoretical physics. Overall recommendable. If this was an Amazon review, I'd give 5 stars.Howard Burton: First Principles

I think this is what I like most that what can be revealed in our blogging encounters, that what was written can go out toward the public to what had be done for me in the exposure of a book. I scoured the bookshop shelves for something interesting to read about science. Of course, in this case it was Howard' Burton's book First Principles.

At 5:18 PM, April 09, 2009, Blogger Plato said...

I have been watch this developing institution as well. In a weird sort of way feeling quite proud that such an institution was given impetus out of which an appreciation for developing of the science perspective was displayed here in the north, by Lazardis

I really don't think it is a Ivory Tower that is being described while Turok resides in his position. Just that what you do as a theorist is brought in line with cosmology. It's much like working the LHC and see that it is working from two perspectives, not just one.

I don't see anything wrong with that.

Nice to see a few prominent names like Susskind, Hawking and Hooft associated with PI.

When I seen the name of the book and the time you spent at PI Howard I was drawn to the idea of what Condense Matter theorists spoke of, in the same way Robert Laughlin looked at how he might describe the "foundational basis" that Phil was talking about.

Witten and others understood the condensed matter point of view as well.

Again I will read the book once finding it.

Best,

Now you must know something about this lay person who writes this blog. Previous to Howard's selective title I came across this term when I was looking for some basis as if in equatorial description that was simple to think it has some relation in algorithmic proportion that this could be the basis of all organization thought that could have exploded amongst the computer world. The very essence and core of our being as it was translated to reveal the very nature of who we are as beings.

This is when I came upon my own "Correlations of Cognition," as the condense matter theorist came to mind. I saw this relevance in how organization could be thought of at a fundamental level. Here in this case, "string theory" held my mind. So when I seen Howard's title of his book it resonated with me, for this is something that had stayed with me for years as I've remained part of the blogging experience of scientists and their engagements with each other.

How is it you then I could not learn to think, that by experiment, that one could line up two counter and oppositional points of view, to see what can be held as truth, and what remains as abstraction of the theoretical division of exploration. You know that what can reside internally as to the mode of operation as to what is self evident(arche), is something that you can place in the external world as well.

So Howard and young students become "mindful of the conduct becoming" and we see this value orientation as to the discussions between scientists. Some students become discouraged and subtle voices strain to speak,"May the ole work horses die?":)

The Book

Anyway I am on page 47 for those readers that have their books. I recognize some aspect of what Mike Lazaridis likes in Howard as to the letter he wrote, preparing the way for his future as to what? I see this fateful discerningly as to a course of action, to much in how after serving their time in the academics, that they must make their way to the financial responsibility toward providing food and sustenance to the family. No fooling around now is there.

So the letter is a spark of genius in terms of putting it out there for hire. Mike Lazaridis recognized something in himself, in what was written by Howard Burton. Mike Lazaridis although an engineer, was was much like him? Avenues to freedom then were the ability to put together a plan once accepting the job, and Howard ability to get to work even though it didn't seem like Howard Burton had a job, was exactly what Mike seem to me what he was looking for.

I liked Chris Isham too, in his explanations, and toward this regard, Chris Isham reminded me of Penrose. I found it kind of odd that later on as Howard is making his way gathering information on Institutes that when again visiting Isham that there was a distance and unknowing attribute of who Howard was? I find this strange when mentioning about his wife and who was meet first as to consequence of saying?

Galileo Galilei's Balance

Let proportion be found not only in numbers, but also in sounds, weights, times and positions, and whatever force there is.Leonardo Da Vinci

Can it be said that measure has ever left the mind of those whose age has come and gone, and what appears as "no traces left behind" might indeed be the passage of age of one thought to the next? Progressive?

(This illustration and text are from a magazine advertisement for NBC, probably dating from the 1940’s. It was found among the files of the Print and Picture Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The word “eureka!” is coming out of Archimedes’ mouthSee:Archimedes


***

So it is ever the attempt for ingenuity to come forward from the deep recesses of the mind, for daylight to shine, and the measures revealed in as natural setting as possible? Who are these inventors then that help us to begin with one step and move forward with another? Is it their genius that we shall capitalize on, or shall it be the ignited pathways that are set "by ignition," that we say that brain has taken a new course in thinking? Blazing new trails?

These "ideas" always existed? But where?

De Architectura, VitruviusFirst Milanese period 1481/2 - 1499

The first printed edition of the De Architectura (On Architecture) by the ancient Roman architect, Vitruvius, appears.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. 80–70 BC, died after c. 15 BC) was a Roman writer, architect and engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum during military service or praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status group), active in the 1st century BC. By his own description[1] Vitruvius served as a Ballista (artilleryman), the third class of arms in the military offices. He likely served as chief of the ballista (senior officer of artillery) in charge of doctores ballistarum (artillery experts) and libratores who actually operated the machines.[2]

***

So in today's world what value would Google have to produce a library and recording of all books that exists so that the route to knowledge shall be forever enshrined in some medium that we use now. If all the institutions and architecture of our civilization were to be gone tomorrow, shall such records be readily available to the "searching mind seeking knowledge" if there be survivors, that it will easily dial up the internet, or by wireless, gain access?

My job more or less has been to enshrine "such knowledge" in the way we record information, that it is different then what Google seeks to do. Yes, some day by such shadows as again from one of Stefan's earlier link supplied below as "Euclidean Geometry and the Shadows," there will be an alignment with such geometries, which shall point the way to a vault where all things that man has gone through, that one day we will know our true history from the beginning of time till now.

This vault to me was about our access to the ideas that exist out there in the ethers and how we might attain by touch of our finger upon it's pulse, that such connection is more then what exists in the Sistine Chapel above, that we had connected to that same resource as Jung's world of the collective unconscious.

How so if we did not pursue the very notion of ideas that are attained at "some center" and found connected outside of our self?

Galileo Galilei

In 1586 at the age of 22, Galileo (1564-1642) wrote a short treatise entitled La Bilancetta (“The Little Balance”). He was skeptical of Vitruvius’s account of how Archimedes determined the fraud in Hiero's crown and in this treatise presented his own theory based on Archimedes’ Law of the Lever and Law of Buoyancy. He also included a description of a hydrostatic balance that determined the precise composition of an alloy of two metals.

Just as it is well known to anyone who takes the care to read ancient authors that Archimedes discovered the jeweler’s theft in Hiero’s crown, it seems to me the method which this great man must have followed in this discovery has up to now remained unknown. Some authors have written that he proceeded by immersing the crown in water, having previously and separately immersed equal amounts [in weight] of very pure gold and silver, and, from the differences in their making the water rise or spill over, he came to recognize the mixture of gold and silver of which the crown was made. But this seems, so to say, a crude thing, far from scientific precision; and it will seem even more so to those who have read and understood the very subtle inventions of this divine man in his own writings; from which one most clearly realizes how inferior all other minds are to Archimedes’s and what small hope is left to anyone of ever discovering things similar to his [discoveries]. I may well believe that, a rumor having spread that Archimedes had discovered the said theft by means of water, some author of that time may have then left a written record of this fact; and that the same [author], in order to add something to the little that he had heard, may have said that Archimedes used the water in that way which was universally believed. But my knowing that this way was altogether false and lacking that precision which is needed in mathematical questions made me think several times how, by means of water, one could exactly determine the mixture of two metals. And at last, after having carefully gone over all that Archimedes demonstrates in his books On Floating Bodies and Equilibrium, a method came to my mind which very accurately solves our problem. I think it probable that this method is the same that Archimedes followed, since, besides being very accurate, it is based on demonstrations found by Archimedes himself. Galileo and the Scientific Revolution by Laura Fermi and Gilberto Bernardini (Translated with the assistance of Cyril Stanley Smith) Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1961 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 61-7486

SEE:The Golden Crown Sources

It had not escaped me that the shadows and stories of the cave become fodder for thought, even amongst our own scientists, that they began the process one way philosophically and thought, what is capable in us to see that any dimensional significance would be an higher portal for some movement of the abstract in mind, is realized in topological dance?


***

See:

God the Geometer

Euclidean Geometry and the Shadows

Update:

The Truth