* Max Dresow writes… I wrote the first installment of my (not-actually-so-) short essay series “Problematica” on January 9, 2023. Since then I’ve written twenty-four more of these things, totaling God knows how many words. My idea at the beginning was to combine scholarly rigor with stylistic freedom, which is to say: I tried to write in a way that dispenses with some of the stuffier conventions of academic prose. In this, at least, I think I’ve succeeded. I’ve also managed to check many items off my potential topics list, from “paleontological colonialism” to “the Darwinized Gaia hypothesis ..read more

* This is Part 2 of a two-part essay on speculation in geohistory. In Part 1 I introduced the problem and discussed three examples of outrageous speculation (the Triassic kraken, Nemesis, and vendobiont hypotheses, respectively). Part 2 aims to make sense of their reception by developing and then using the concepts of “well-controlled” and “dangerous speculation.” This requires a quick review of the literature on speculation in the historical sciences, which is where I begin. “Problematica” is written by Max Dresow… Philosophers on speculation The literature on speculation in the historical s ..read more

* This is the latest installment of “Problematica.” It is based on a paper I wrote a few years back, which now resides in the PhilSci-Archive. Improbably, the paper seems to have attracted a (very) modest readership, probably because it has a fun title. It was even cited by the sneaky creationist website “EvolutionNews” in a story that alleges a Darwinian conspiracy against Mark McMenamin. (Nope!! People dunk on McMenamin because he says a bunch of silly shit. Also, my paper is cited out of context. The author makes it seem like I call the Triassic kraken hypothesis “dangerous” because it dar ..read more

* This is a special mini-Problematica. Let’s call it Part 2.5 of my two-part essay on the origin of novel characters. (Here are Parts 1 and 2.) Problematica is written by Max Dresow… Have you ever had the experience of learning about something and then— all of a sudden— seeing it everywhere? The phenomenon apparently has a name: the “Baader-Meinhof” illusion, in reference to a West German militant communist group. A St. Paul resident, Terry Mullen, coined the term in a letter to my local newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. After learning about the Baader-Meinhof Gang, Mr. Mullen began noti ..read more

* This is Part 2 of a two-part installment of “Problematica.” It is about the problem of explaining novel structures in late nineteenth century evolutionary science. You can find the link to Part 1 here. Problematica is written by Max Dresow… In the first part of this essay I made a perhaps-somewhat-controversial claim.* After introducing three nineteenth century arguments against the idea that natural selection can generate novel structures, I said: Mivart's Dilemma [the inability of natural selection to account for the incipient stages of useful structures] played the most decisive role in ..read more

* This is Part 1 of a two-part installment of “Problematica.” It is about the problem of explaining novel structures in late nineteenth century evolutionary science. I will place the link to Part 2 here when it is available. Problematica is written by Max Dresow… In an 1886 book, Evolution of To-day, the bacteriologist Herbert Conn remarked that “Natural selection, or Darwinism, is… almost everywhere acknowledged as insufficient to meet the facts of nature, since many features of life are not explained by it” (243). Twenty years later, the entomologist Vernon Kellogg began his survey, Darwini ..read more

* Max writes… Among its other charms, YouTube is an amazing repository of old science documentaries. Many are gems of clarity and insight, as well as fascinating time capsules: you really just have to watch them! Here I’ve embedded a few videos that I’ve been wanting to share. Most have less than 1,000 views. This needs to change. They are presented in no particular order, although several are from a series produced by The Open University and the BBC. Check ‘em out! #1: James Hutton As I was researching James Hutton I ran across this banger. The documentary is basically a field trip to the mos ..read more

* This is Part 2 of a two-part three-part installment of “Problematica.” In Part 1 Max discussed the amphibious geology of Charles Lyell, focusing on the character of Lyell’s “amphibious being.” Part 2 examines the world view of Lyell’s most influential successor, Eduard Suess, again focusing on a fictional geologist of his (Suess’s) own creation. Problematica is written by Max Dresow… Greatness, like beauty, is to some extent in the eye of the beholder. Still, if you were to make a list of the very greatest geologists of all time, relatively few people would vie for the top spot. If the matt ..read more

* Extinct is a professional blog. But part of professional life is the job market— the worst part, really. That’s what I want to talk about today. The essay is highly personal. I'm going to share some details from what has been a pretty rough year in my personal life. Hopefully it won't seem like a pity party. My goal is self-reflection rather than self-pity. But probably it isn't entirely successful. Be warned: there is no paleontology, no philosophy, here. Just some reflections on grief and loss. Here goes… I was at the library with my two year old when I got the call. My father had been in ..read more

* Katherine Valde is an assistant professor of philosophy at Wofford College. She is interested in time in the biological sciences, as well as the role the concept of “neutrality" plays in science and beyond. [Note: the above image is the Cretaceous section of Zallinger’s The Age of Reptiles (1947), showing Tyrannosaurus and friends loitering among some— in hindsight, too modern-looking— angiosperms.] Katherine writes… In a letter to his friend and colleague J.D. Hooker, Charles Darwin described the sudden appearance and diversification of angiosperms (flowering plants) as “an abominable myst ..read more