Robert Trivers

Robert L. Trivers, (born 19 February 1943, pronEng|ˈtrɪvɚz) is an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist, most noted for proposing the theories of reciprocal altruism (1971), parental investment (1972), and parent-offspring conflict (1974). Other areas in which he has made influential contributions include an adaptive view of self-deception (first described in 1976) and intragenomic conflict. Along with George C. Williams, Trivers is arguably one of the most influential evolutionary theorists alive today.

A 1961 graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Trivers went to Harvard to study mathematics, but wound up studying U.S. history in preparation to become a lawyer. He received his A.B. degree in History on June 16, 1965 from Harvard University. He took a psychology class after suffering a breakdown, and was very unimpressed with the state of psychology. He was prevented from getting into Yale law school by his breakdown, and wound up with a job writing social science textbooks for children (never published, due in part to presenting evolution by natural selection as fact). This exposure to evolutionary theory led him to do graduate work with Ernst Mayr at Harvard 1968-1972. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology on June 15, 1972 also from Harvard University. He was on faculty at Harvard 1973-1978, then moved to UC Santa Cruz.

He met Huey P. Newton, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, in 1978 when Newton applied (while in prison) to do a reading course with him as part of a graduate degree in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz. Trivers and Newton became close friends: Newton was even godfather to one of Trivers' daughters. Trivers joined the Black Panther Party in 1979. Trivers and Newton published an analysis of the role of self-deception by the flight crew in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90. [Trivers, R.L. & Newton, H.P. Science Digest 'The crash of flight 90: doomed by self-deception?' November 1982, pp 66,67,111.]

Trivers was a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz 1978-1994. He is currently a Rutgers University notable faculty member.

He wrote the original foreword to Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, and was recently awarded the 2007 Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for "his fundamental analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation". [cite web|url=http://www.crafoordprize.se/press/arkivpressreleases/5.51ddd3b10fa0c64b24800018103.html|date=2007-01-18|publisher=The Crafoord Prize (website)|title=The Crafoord Prize in Biosciences 2007|accessdate=2007-01-29|] [cite news|title=Jamaican-born (sic) scientist gets top award|url=http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070129/lead/lead2.html|date=2007-01-29|accessdate=2007-01-29|work=Jamaica Gleaner]

Political views

Trivers is a harsh critic of Israeli government policies. He has called Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, "nazi-like" and "a skunk" for his defense of Israel government policies. [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521906 The Harvard Crimson :: News :: In Speech, Trivers Derides Dershowitz ] ]

Significant papers

* Trivers, R. L. (1971) The evolution of reciprocal altruism. "Quarterly Review of Biology", 46, 35-57.

* Trivers, R. L. (1972) Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.) "Sexual selection and the descent of man", 1871-1971 (pp 136-179). Chicago, Aldine.

* Trivers R.L. & Willard, D. E. (1973) Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring. Science, 179(68), 90-2. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=4682135&query_hl=6 pubmed]

* Trivers, R. L. (1974). Parent-offspring conflict. "American Zoologist", 14, 249-264.

* Trivers, R. L. & Hare R. (1976) Haplodiploidy and the evolution of the social insects. Science, 191(4224), 250-263. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1108197&query_hl=9 pubmed]

* Trivers, R. L. (1991) Deceit and self-deception: The relationship between communication and consciousness. In: M. Robinson and L. Tiger (eds.) "Man and Beast Revisited," Smithsonian, Washington, DC, pp. 175-191.

Books

* Trivers, R. L. (1985) "Social Evolution". Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, CA.

* Trivers, R. L. (2002) "Natural Selection and Social Theory: Selected Papers of Robert L. Trivers. (Evolution and Cognition Series)" Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-513062-6

* Burt, A. & Trivers, R. L. (2006) "Genes in Conflict : The Biology of Selfish Genetic Elements." Belknap Press, Harvard. ISBN 0-674-01713-7

References

External links

* [http://anthro.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=136 Official site at Rutgers University]
* [http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/trivers04/trivers04_index.html Brief Autobiography]
* "The Guardian": [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1556482,00.html Profile: The Kindness of Strangers]
* [http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail787.html IT Conversations lectures]
* [http://www.froes.dds.nl Speak, Darwinists!] Interviews with leading evolutionists.
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7520102537648426467&q=chomsky&hl=en Chomsky + Trivers on self-deception]
* [http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/09/noam_chomsky_robert_trivers.php Seed Magazine conversation with Noam Chomsky and Robert Trivers]