Pierrick Bourrat

Thrilled to see my book on units and levels of selection published as part of the Elements series at Cambridge University Press. The book is free to download here for the next 14 days: tinyurl.com/ympkj6se

Paul Rainey opens Pierrick Bourrat’s Evolving Individuality workshop. Is the evolution of individuality the same process as the evolution of evolvability?

With talks from @geeklhem, @patrickmcgivern, @pgodfreysmith, @philippehune, @AdrianoStencel, @andblack, @CogsAndy, @elizostrow, @PattenLab , @RaineyLab, @RenskeVroomans ,@RoseTrappes, @RutgerHermsen, @ab_in_ , and @peterlconlin among others!

For biologists, philosophers of biology, and cognitive scientists, the Evolving Individuality 2024 conference will run @ Macquarie University from 2 - 4 December, focusing on biological individuality and evolution. Registration is essential: pierrickbourrat.github.io/EvolvingIndivi…

Thanks to the organizers and contributors for making the 2024 SAPoLSN summer school such a success! @pierrickbourrat phil.pku.edu.cn/jlhz/2024sqxx/… Now for the Evolution and Development workshop (19-20 August).

➡️New issue now out!⬅️ With writing on Richard Lewontin and what a snake study indicates about human evolution, plus much more in our latest issue, 19:3! See everything available in our September issue here: link.springer.com/journal/13752/…

In this paper, we extend the ecological scaffolding model of evolutionary transitions in individuality by proposing a mechanism of endogenization that brings us a step closer to understanding the emergence of genuine collective-level individuals

I'm thrilled to announce the publication of our new paper in *Nature Communications*. This work is the result of a collaborative effort between theoretical (@geeklhem)and experimental biologists (@Hammerschmidt_K), as well as philosophers. rdcu.be/dPP0I

Not long to go until the Sino-Australian Philosophy of Life Sciences Network (SAPoLSN) 2024 summer school, “Evolution and Development: From Life to Mind.” 11-17 August, Peking University. “Engage with philosophical questions emerging around contemporary issues at the nexus of evolution & development.” @pierrickbourrat one of the organizers. philevents.org/event/show/121…

Curious about the link between fitness and evolvability? 🔍 Cristina Villegas (@inaplicables), Katie Deaven, and I have the answers you need! doi.org/10.1007/s10539…

@ESColizzi @Inria Toutes mes félicitations !

Thrilled to announce that I have accepted an independent CRCN position at @Inria Lyon. Looking forward to making new models of microbial interactions, development and evolution! Please reach out if you are interested in collaborating.

Our latest preprint doi.org/10.32942/X2V61T explains why fitness can be defined in so many ways, and which version(s) you should use for what. See threads in other places for explainers @geeklhem @pierrickbourrat

@AnthonyHerrel @grumpyDrFabre Félicitations !!

@wc_ratcliff @thibaut_brunet Thanks @wc_ratcliff, yes it does seem to fit. Interesting work @thibaut_brunet!

@thibaut_brunet You know about @pierrickbourrat and co’s ‘ecological scaffolding’ hypothesis for the origin of multicellular life cycles, right? Seems like a good potential fit here.

➡️Two new articles online⬅️ "Context Matters: A Response to Autzen and Okasha’s Reply to Takacs and Bourrat" by Peter Takacs & Pierrick Bourrat @pierrickbourrat Read it here: rdcu.be/dCwUo @Usyd_Philosophy @MQPhilosophy @CPC_usyd 1/2

The term 'multicellularity' constantly brings up confusion among scientists. The core problem here is that it's an adjective dressed up as a verb: it expands to 'multicellular group', 'multicellular individual', or 'multicellular organism'. These are not always the same.

Finally, I show how their framework can be deployed in the context of evolutionary transition in individuality to assess when a transition has occurred.

Second, all the measures they propose are correlational. I propose instead a causal one.

New paper on the concept of individuality in EJPS. link.springer.com/article/10.100… In this paper, I start from the information-theoretic measures of individuality proposed by Krakauer et al. and do three things:

@arvidagren Malécot grew up near Saint-Etienne, where I also grew up. Almost nothing happens in Saint-Etienne (aside from Football) hence why I mention it :)

Who of Fisher, Haldane, and Wright got most things right is a classic happy hour debate. A less common question is: if you were to name a fourth founder of population genetics, who would it be? Bryan Epperson nominated Gustave Malecot. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…