Biologists: who counts and who doesn’t

M Robertson in the Journal of Biology:

While there can be no question about the contribution of mathematics to many fields in biology, there is a curious tendency on the part of numerate biologists (often immigrants from the physical sciences) to insist that they are an essential part of the equipment of a biologist and none should be without it. This seems, on the evidence, extreme.

…

In short, the account of the segmentation clock in our review this month is an illustration of emergent properties at two levels, at one of which – the level of devices – no great mathematical sophistication is required; while at the other, where devices are engaged in complex systems, mathematics may be mandatory.

There seems no need for the kind of snobbery displayed (it is said) by the highly quantitative founding biologists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, in whose early history exphysicists played a crucial part, and who are alleged to have referred to their nearby colleagues at Woods Hole as biologists ‘who don’t count’.

Take a look!

Incomplete, authoritarian, suppressive and brutal democracy

Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I and you and all of us fell down, while bloody treason flourished over us.

Ram Guha in the Telegraph:

Over the past few years, the government of Chhattisgarh has had a particularly undistinguished record in this respect. The burning of adivasi villages under the government-sponsored Salwa Judum has been documented in a series of independent reports. Then there is the unconscionable incarceration without bail of the respected social worker and doctor, Binayak Sen, on the very flimsy charge of carrying a letter from one Naxalite to another. Now comes this savage act of retribution against a group of law-abiding, peace-loving, and utterly non-violent Gandhians.

Supporters of the Chhattisgarh government deflect such criticism by pointing to the fact that the chief minister of the state has won a series of elections. But democracy does not begin and end with the counting of votes. Those elected to political office are sworn to uphold the rule of law, and to honour the ideals of the Indian Constitution. This holds true at the national as well as provincial levels. It applies equally to Congress-led governments as to Bharatiya Janata Party-led ones. So long as incidents such as the demolition of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram occur and recur, India will not count as much more than a 50 per cent democracy.

I think Guha is too liberal in his marking scheme when he gives 50% after all the atrocities that he documents — I say, give 15% and fail!