NEW COURSE  Fall Semester, 2000

Statistics 260:   Evolution and Statistics

Instructor: David Steinsaltz
Office: 347 Evans
email: dstein@stat.berkeley.edu

Course Outline

The Darwinian theory of evolution has attracted enormous interest in recent years, with applications, or supposed applications, to almost every field of human interest, from philosophy through psychology to computer programming to economics (not intended to assert a linear ordering). This theory, like statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, is inherently stochastic, and the attempts to make hard science out of it almost invariably require probabilistic and statistical models. These models are often mathematically complicated, and are perhaps equally often absurd. The aim of this course will be to strike one small path through the ever more tangled thicket of evolutionary theory. Significant attention will be paid to sorting out the often head-spinning twists of logic which underly many of the more extravagant claims in the field. To this end, there will be, an admixture of philosophical readings to the course diet of mathematical and biological topics. We will also devote some attention to the reverse question: Not just, what mathematics and statistics can tell us about evolution, but what an evolutionary approach can tell us about the foundations of statistics.

Main topics:

Prerequisites:  This course is concerned primarily with mathematical methods, which will require some prior mathematical training. Knowledge of basic concepts of probability and statistics, on the level of Statistics 20 and 134, will be assumed. A mathematical background including linear algebra and multivariable calculus would also be extremely helpful. Some familiarity with biological principles, in particular genetics, will also be required. Those interested in the course who are quite strong in one of these areas (or in another related discipline, such as anthropology or philosophy), but weak in mathematics should come speak with the instructor.

Texts
Required: Most readings will be articles, which will be made available in a reader at some copy shop.
Recommended: Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology by Elliott Sober, MIT Press

Course Time:  The course time will be changed at the first meeting (Monday, Aug. 28). Those interested in the course who cannot come then should contact the instructor.