John Dukich , IT and CLA 2007
The Invisible Hand of Natural Selection: Smith, Darwin and Global Poverty
Major
Statistics and Philosophy
Mentor
Mark Barrello : Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Brief Bio
In my spare time I enjoy running, biking, and reading. I also enjoy traveling because it allows me to explore other cultures, both past and present. In addition to completing a UROP project during the spring semester of my junior year (“The Invisible Hand of Natural Selection”), I did another UROP project during the spring semester of my senior year.
Future Plans
I just began working full-time, but I plan to attend graduate school in the next year or two where I will study the history and philosophy of science.
Why Research?
Doing research allowed my to explore some of my interests that I would not have been able to explore in the classroom; it also gave me an opportunity to figure out what I might like to study in graduate school.
What Did I Get from Research?
Doing research allowed me to figure out what course of study I want to pursue in graduate school. I also improved my writing and presentation skills. I wrote many drafts of a paper in preparation for a presentation at a research symposium. I learned how to write a research proposal and go through the necessary steps of organizing and implementing a research project.
How Did I Start?
After developing an idea for a research project, I contacted a couple of professors who had similar research interests as myself. I explained my research idea to each potential advisor, and after meeting with Professor Borrello, he was very supportive and interested. After choosing an advisor I wrote a research proposal that was submitted to UROP and awarded funding.
Advice for Another Student
I would highly recommend doing research as an undergraduate, especially if you are thinking about graduate school. Take as few credits as possible to get the most out of your research project. Presenting the research at a symposium or conference is also a valuable experience.
Project Description
Although Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776 and Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1858 their ideas have had a profound impact on modern thought. How have these two ideas, in the context of eighteenth and nineteenth century thought, helped to create the global gap between the wealthy and the poor? Smith and Darwin, as well as other thinkers of their time were influenced by contemporary society and ideas. These ideas, of reductionism, mechanism, and scientific materialism have been inherited by modern science and modern societies, which in turn have shaped how humanity perceives itself.
After putting Smith and Darwin in historical context, I argue that such a wide gap between the wealthy and the poor has, in part, arisen due to misinterpretations of their respective works as well as due to the inherited ideas of the past three-to-four-hundred years. Through misconceptions of Smith’s idea of free-market economies and Darwin’s theory of natural selection, some people, like Social Darwinists, have justified poverty and the widening gap between wealthy and poor as “natural”.
The paper concludes with the suggestion that a necessary aspect of reducing global poverty includes changing our world-view. It’s suggested that in order to improve the human condition, we must view human beings as human, not as mere economic statistics. Until the dichotomy that exists in our view of nature has changed, we will continue to live with an extreme chasm between the ultra rich and the poorest of the poor.