tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post1766302891894611237..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: predictions, shmredictionsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-79796747895831546052007-10-31T07:14:00.000-05:002007-10-31T07:14:00.000-05:00Every time I teach (biological) evolutionary thoug...Every time I teach (biological) evolutionary thought basics, I debate how much of Malthus to include. If I restrict myself to those (currently seen as) correct ideas which clearly influenced Wallace and Darwin, I feel that I am cheating my students out of a fuller view of history. If I wander into the territory of human population predictions many students leave with the one idea that "Malthus was wrong." I have a tough time convincing students that inaccurate specific predictions are not necessarily an indicator that the underlying ideas should be ignored (but then I recently had a student inform me on a quiz that the big difference between fungi and animals is that Kingdom Animalia is 97% animals, so I'm not sure I could succeed in teaching the differences between important ideas and correct predictions).Sparkling Squirrelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10899640164757220074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-81732506837150735342007-10-29T16:29:00.000-05:002007-10-29T16:29:00.000-05:00The context is the brutal suppression of a serf re...The context is the brutal suppression of a serf revolt somewhere in the Crimea, of which Custine hears rumors. Custine is not such a perceptive observer most of the time, but he sure gets this one right.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70835741480894516522007-10-29T16:15:00.000-05:002007-10-29T16:15:00.000-05:00Of course one has to decide what is a revolution--...Of course one has to decide what is a revolution---but I suppose most would agree that would happened in Russia in 1917 was a revolution by almost all standards. If so, it certainly resulted in what was prophesized. How many died from starvation, murder, executions, etc. etc. we most likely will never know accurately; but there seems little question that it was 20-40 million---I'd say that prediction was right on.<BR/>glennAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com