RE: Re: gould dies at 60

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman writes:
> Stephen Gould's is a great loss.  He seems to have been an exceptional
> person in many ways.  He certainly has enriched my understanding of
> economic processes, especially with his theory of the punctuated
> equilibrium.

I loved Gould's work, especially his MISMEASURE OF MAN, a needed critique of
IQ tests and the like. But I think though the theory of punctuated
equilibrium is an important contribution to evolutionary theory, it isn't
that important to economics. In economics, it's suspiciously akin to the
standard idea of "comparative statics." (BTW, there was an article in
SCIENCE & SOCIETY a few years ago, likening Gould's method to that of Marx.)

By coincidence, on Sunday I saw "Charles Darwin: Live and in Concert," an
amusing and informative one-man show done by Richard Milner, senior editor
of NATURAL HISTORY magazine (cf.
http://www.nhm.org/whatsnew/lectures/darwin.html) at the L.A. Museum of
Natural History. As part of his show, he had a song about Gould, a school
friend of his. We bought Milner's book and CD and had them autograph. Said
I: "you're a ham -- like your friend Stephen J. Gould." Said he:
"unfortunately, he's dying of cancer." Alas.

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine