Arvid Ågren
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arvidagren.bsky.social
Arvid Ågren
@arvidagren.bsky.social
1.3K followers 370 following 320 posts
Evolutionary biologist. Assistant Professor CCLCM/CWRU.

Author of The Gene's-Eye View of Evolution (OUP 2021). The Paradox of the Organism (HUP) coming Dec 2025.

Working on a scientific biography of Richard Dawkins (Basic Books).

www.arvidagren.com
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Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 20d
First copy of The Paradox of the Organism in the wild!
arvidagren.bsky.social
Crick — An @economist.com best book of the year.

Congrats @matthewcobb.bsky.social!
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 AM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Sometimes online supplementary materials feel overly long and poorly edited.

Still, quite glad that we no longer have to purchase them from the British Library Document Supply Centre in Weatherby, West Yorkshire.

From Alan Grafen's "The phylogenetic regression" (Phil Trans, 1989)
The proofs have been omitted for reasons of space, but have been lodged in the archives of the Royal Society and the British Library Document Supply Centre†. Copies of the material deposited may be purchased from the British Library Document Supply Centre, Weatherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K. (reference SUP 10052).
November 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Fun episode BBC In Our Time episode from 1999 with John Maynard Smith.

Talks about the major transitions, the gene's-eye view, and why he's bored with human genome project.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Evolution
Melvyn Bragg examines the future of gene therapy and advances in evolutionary biology.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 5:15 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Fun to see this Dawkins-Noble debate resurface.

Watching it provides a window into how some debates in evolutionary biology play out.

A few impressions below (1/n)
November 23, 2025 at 7:32 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Fireside Books in Chagrin Falls, OH.

@maxjtelford.bsky.social and @matthewcobb.bsky.social in good company.
November 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Dan Dennett on the spandrels paper as "the latest chapter of Postpositivist Harvard Conservatism".
The case leveled against adaptationist thinking by Gould and Lewontin has been widely misinterpreted, even by some of those who have espoused it, perhaps because of the curious mismatch between the rhetoric of Gould and Lewontin’s attack and the mildness of their explicit conclusions and recommendations. They heap scorn on the supposed follies of the adaptationist mind set, which leads many to suppose that their conclusion is that adaptationist thinking should be shunned altogether. Their work was drawn to my attention, in fact, by critics of an earlier version of this paper who claimed that my position was a version of adaptationism, “which Gould and Lewontin have shown to be completely bankrupt.” But when I turned to this supposed refutation of my fundamental assumptions, I found that the authors’ closing summation finds a legitimate place in biology for adaptationist thinking. Theirs is a call for “pluralism,” in fact, a plaint against what they see as an exclusive concentration on adaptationist thinking at the cost of ignoring other important avenues of biological thought. But still, the arguments that precede this mild and entirely reasonable conclusion seem ill-suited to support it, for they are clearly presented as if they were attacks on the fundamental integrity of adaptationist thinking, rather than support for the recommendation that we should all try in the future to be more careful and pluralistic adaptationists. Moreover, when I looked closely at the arguments, I was struck by feeling of déjà vu. These arguments were not new, but rather a replay of B. F. Skinner’s long-lived polemical campaign against “mentalism.” Could it be, I wondered, that Gould and Lewontin have written the latest chapter of Postpositivist Harvard Conservatism? Could it be that they have picked up the torch that Skinner, in retirement, has relinquished? I doubt that Gould and Lewontin view the discovery of their intellectual kinship with Skinner with unalloyed equanimity…
November 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Dan Dennett on what Michael Dummett and Richard Dawkins learned from his Locke Lectures.
November 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Working on the molecular mechanisms of selfish genetic elements?

Check out this EMBO meeting in Bern, Switzerland!

Wish I could have joined, programme looks fantastic.

February 8-11, 2026.
meetings.embo.org/event/26-sel...
Molecular mechanisms of selfish elements and strategies
Certain genes, chromosomes, organelles, or entire sets of chromosomes can bias their transmission to the next generation, propagating themselves at the expense of the rest of the genome. Referred to …
meetings.embo.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Please consider submitting a paper!

Deadline: 28th February 2026
November 17, 2025 at 1:58 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Bill Hamilton on not worrying too much about the all the progress in molecular genetics.

Narrow Roads Vol I, p. 12
November 14, 2025 at 3:10 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Arthur Cain once said of David Lack that he was ”the only religious man I knew at that period who did not allow his religion to dictate his view of natural selection”.
arvidagren.bsky.social Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 15d
Three generations of Oxford zoologists grappling with the theological implications of evolutionary biology.
November 14, 2025 at 1:46 AM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Wonderful talks and discussion from @jenncoughlan.bsky.social
and @ecmoore.bsky.social y.social!

If you missed it, the recording will soon be available at internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/seminars/

Pencil in December 16 for the last seminar of the year.
arvidagren.bsky.social Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 22d
Speciation special with @jenncoughlan.bsky.social and @ecmoore.bsky.social!

Thursday November 13.
November 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
One more day to go!

10am Eastern Thursday November 13.
internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/seminars/
arvidagren.bsky.social Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 22d
Speciation special with @jenncoughlan.bsky.social and @ecmoore.bsky.social!

Thursday November 13.
November 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Three generations of Oxford zoologists grappling with the theological implications of evolutionary biology.
November 11, 2025 at 1:33 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Great days in Kansas for the internal conflicts in biology and economics workshop.

Thanks to all the speakers!
collectiveagents.weebly.com
Group photo by a Jayhawk
November 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
First copy of The Paradox of the Organism in the wild!
November 6, 2025 at 7:45 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Speciation special with @jenncoughlan.bsky.social and @ecmoore.bsky.social!

Thursday November 13.
November 4, 2025 at 1:24 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Very excited for the arrival of Oren Harman’s latest book.

Few combine deep knowledge of the history of biology with such compelling writing.
November 3, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Arvid Ågren
martijnschenkel.bsky.social
New paper out with Manus Patten and @arvidagren.bsky.social in Biology & Philosophy! We propose a framework to capture the severity of different types of internal conflict and how this allows for a quantitative approach to evolutionary individuality across different biological collectives.
arvidagren.bsky.social Arvid Ågren @arvidagren.bsky.social · 26d
*NEW PAPER*

How much of a threat are within-organism conflicts, really?

In Biology & Philosophy, @martijnschenkel.bsky.social, Manus Patten, and I present a mathematical framework to measure evolutionary individuality in the face of internal conflicts. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Screenshot of the abstract. It reads In biology, individuals can be identified at various levels of organization, ranging from the molecular and cellular—e.g., viruses and protists—to the organismal and societal—e.g., termites and termite colonies. This nested biological hierarchy results from evolutionary transitions in individuality, in which lower-lying entities (particles) come together to form higher-level entities (collectives). These collectives are then taken to be individuals in their own right, capable of being the units on which selection acts and where adaptations may reside. Challenges arise, however, when we recognize the possibility for internal conflict, for example from selfish genetic elements within organisms. Here we develop a quantitative approach to biological individuality, in which collectives qualify as individuals to the extent that their particles possess a unity of purpose—i.e., that they possess aligned fitness interests. We propose a mathematical framework that measures the degree of individuality exhibited by organisms and other biological collectives in the presence of internal conflicts. This framework not only helps pinpoint where in the hierarchy biological individuality sits, but also identifies the level at which adaptation may reside. We develop two metrics: fitness unity, which measures the threat posed by internal conflicts to a collective individual’s status as an optimizing agent; and trait unity, which measures differences in optimal strategies among its particles. Finally, we consider cases where internal conflicts become so disruptive to individualized biological collectives so that it no longer makes sense to think of them as individuals, but instead as compromises of multiple competing particles.
October 31, 2025 at 1:41 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
*NEW PAPER*

How much of a threat are within-organism conflicts, really?

In Biology & Philosophy, @martijnschenkel.bsky.social, Manus Patten, and I present a mathematical framework to measure evolutionary individuality in the face of internal conflicts. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Screenshot of the abstract. It reads In biology, individuals can be identified at various levels of organization, ranging from the molecular and cellular—e.g., viruses and protists—to the organismal and societal—e.g., termites and termite colonies. This nested biological hierarchy results from evolutionary transitions in individuality, in which lower-lying entities (particles) come together to form higher-level entities (collectives). These collectives are then taken to be individuals in their own right, capable of being the units on which selection acts and where adaptations may reside. Challenges arise, however, when we recognize the possibility for internal conflict, for example from selfish genetic elements within organisms. Here we develop a quantitative approach to biological individuality, in which collectives qualify as individuals to the extent that their particles possess a unity of purpose—i.e., that they possess aligned fitness interests. We propose a mathematical framework that measures the degree of individuality exhibited by organisms and other biological collectives in the presence of internal conflicts. This framework not only helps pinpoint where in the hierarchy biological individuality sits, but also identifies the level at which adaptation may reside. We develop two metrics: fitness unity, which measures the threat posed by internal conflicts to a collective individual’s status as an optimizing agent; and trait unity, which measures differences in optimal strategies among its particles. Finally, we consider cases where internal conflicts become so disruptive to individualized biological collectives so that it no longer makes sense to think of them as individuals, but instead as compromises of multiple competing particles.
October 31, 2025 at 1:24 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
John Maynard Smith and Richard Lewontin at the University of Sussex, 9 March 1972.
Photo of young JMS and RCL. Both are wearing shirts and tie.
October 30, 2025 at 3:56 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
The legend of this 1905 Vanity Fair caricature of Ray Lankester reads:

“His religion is the worship of all sorts of winged and finny freaks.”

The @evornithology.bsky.social of his time.
A caricature of a man in a dark suit and waistcoat, standing with hands tucked into his jacket and gazing intently at two large, vividly coloured hornbills perched on a small wooden table.
October 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Desmond Morris came late to football, but his interest seems to to be genuine.

The current edition of his The Soccer Tribe comes with a (rather bland) foreword by none other than The Special One, José Mourinho.
Cover of the latest edition of The Soccer Tribe. It features a photo of Luis Suárez celebrating a goal for Uruguay.
October 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Here is the message from JEB managing editor Nicki Cook.
Full message from JEB about the special issue.
October 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
arvidagren.bsky.social
Working any sort of within-organism conflict?

Submit a paper to our special issue in @jevbio.bsky.social!
evoldir.bsky.social EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Oct 26
Call for Papers for a special issue on "Foundations of Internal Conflicts" in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Submit by Feb 28, 2026. Contact Martijn Schenkel for details: [email protected]
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
October 27, 2025 at 2:21 AM