On Protosocialist Nations

Few questions are of greater importance for our species than those relating to the nature of the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and other societies emerging from the historic revolutions of the twentieth century. Are these models for a brighter, happier, and more humane future? Or are they threats to all that is good and decent about humanity? The answers to such questions necessarily affect our views on all political questions, from Star Wars and the arms race to U.S. intervention in Central America

The adaptive significance of cultural behavior: Comments and reply

Fundamentally, theoretically, there is only one process underlying genetic and cultural evolution: natural selection. Organism fitness-enhancement (“adaptive significance”) is one of its practical mechanisms; group formation and maintenance is another, often but not always through fitness-enhancement; and need-fulfillment is still another. If Durham can accept that formulation, and switch from “organism-thinking” to “instruction-thinking” (Cloak, 1975: 178), he will free himself from two handicaps: First, he can forget his worries about “reductionism” and “determinism” (1976a: 100, 101). Under this general theory of natural selection, cultural evolution is biological evolution, continued by “other” (nongenetic) means. Second, he will spare himself the appearance of anthropomorphism, mentalism, and wishy-washiness attendant on his discussion of kinds of “significance,” other than adaptive “significance,” of cultural behaviors (1976a: 102–106, 115).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44494/1/10745_2005_Article_BF01880258.pd

A Comment on "Puvunga and Point Conception: A Comparative Study of Southern California Indian Traditionalism," by Matthew A. Boxt and L. Mark Raab

The central point of Boxt and Raab's article lies in the assertion that "widely held understanding of Puvunga are almost entirely a product of anthropological scholarship. This fact is rarely acknowledged" (p. 63). They claim that the "exact location of this community and its archaeological remains were unknown until J. P. Harrington announced his discovery to the academic world 60 years ago: Puvunga had been located" (p. 51). This is nonsense