David Sloan Wilson - Archipelagos of knowledge, commons, and the science of cooperation

David Sloan Wilson is one of biology’s most prolific and impactful scientists. He is author of paradigmatic contributions to evolutionary theory and how organisms behave, such as multilevel selection and core design principles for the efficacy of groups. But the reach of his work is far beyond the domains of biology and sociology, in whole a toolkit for improving how we live together and weaving between areas of thought.

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David Sloan Wilson is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. He applies evolutionary theory to all aspects of humanity in addition to the rest of life, both in his own research and as director of The Evolution Institute, a unique campus-wide evolutionary studies program now expanding into a nationwide consortium. He is author of well over 200 academic publications in journals cutting across biology, evolution, behavior, psychology, philosophy, cognitive science, and anthropology.

His life, as his work, is a conversation across science, religion, and the human condition.

His books include Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives, and The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time and Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others.

Now he is the president of Prosocial World, where his goal is to improve behavior for the flourishing of individuals and the whole.

So this is a conversation about the science of how groups can flourish, but it’s also a conversation about mind - whether we consider that at the individual level or collectively. Coursing through are ideas around adaptation, holding different languages, and the notion of neuroplasticity -- the understanding that the brain changes throughout all of life and over its whole course, one of the most exciting discoveries of our time.

There are few people whose life and experiences could better help us explore all the places these ideas can reach than David Sloan Wilson.