Papers by Richard Richards
World Futures, 2018
Dealing with the ethical challenges of humankind at the turn of the twenty-first century, and saf... more Dealing with the ethical challenges of humankind at the turn of the twenty-first century, and safely guiding the human species through new subsequent stages of biological evolution and adaptation and cultural development, requires rethinking of our values and norms in a longer-term perspective and at the planetary level. Therefore, this chapter starts by discussing the meaning of evolution and presenting an overview of the major stages of the development of evolution science-the Darwinian revolution, the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, the molecular-genetic revolution and the Second Darwinian Revolution. Next, the two major developmental processes, the hominisation process and the modernisation process, are addressed, which are considered by the authors to be of pivotal importance for the future of human morality. Finally, by confronting the hominisation and modernisation processes, this chapter sets the stage for revealing the necessary changes in values and norms in view of adapting to further progressing modernisation and evolving toward higher levels of hominisation. Humans have always, and everywhere, raised questions about the origin and meaning of life-in particular human life-as well as about its causes. 1 Since the eighteenth century a process developed through which the traditional visionthe supernaturally, spiritually evoked creationism-was gradually ousted by the 1 Sproul (1979), Leeming (2009).
The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2013
The Species Problem - Ongoing Issues, 2013
Few biological problems have remained as consistently challenging through the past two centuries ... more Few biological problems have remained as consistently challenging through the past two centuries as the species problem. Time after time attempts were made to cut the Gordian knot and declare the species problem solved either by asserting dogmatically that species did not exist or by defining, equally dogmatically, the precise characteristics of species. Alas, these pseudosolutions were obviously unsatisfactory. One might ask: "Why not simply ignore the species
Biological Classification
Biological Classification
Biological Classification
The Cambridge History of Atheism, 2021
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2017
The use of batteries and other electrochemical devices in modern power systems is rapidly increas... more The use of batteries and other electrochemical devices in modern power systems is rapidly increasing, with stricter requirements in terms of cost, efficiency and reliability. Innovative monitoring solutions are therefore urged to allow a successful development of a wide range of emerging applications, including electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage to support renewable energy generation. Presently, a huge gap still exists between the accurate and sophisticated monitoring techniques commonly employed in laboratory tests, on the one hand, and the simple and rough solutions available in commercial applications, on the other hand. The objective of this paper is therefore to demonstrate how measurements similar to those performed in laboratories can be carried out also in commercial applications at very low cost. In more detail, the paper focuses on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy on a battery, performed by a DC-DC power converter suitably controlled to create the required AC perturbation, and it explains how the converter control, the signal acquisition and advanced processing and estimation algorithms can all be implemented in low-cost offthe-shelf hardware, capable to achieve very accurate results. The paper mainly presents the design of the complete system and describes the experimental prototype used to test the proposed methodology.
Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species • "From these remarks it will be seen that I look at the ... more Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species • "From these remarks it will be seen that I look at the term species, as one arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals closely resembling each other."-(p52)
The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2002
Biological Classification
A Philosophical Analysis, 2010
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 1997
... Darwin and the Inefficacy of Artificial Selection. ... Abstract. Darwin is commonly understoo... more ... Darwin and the Inefficacy of Artificial Selection. ... Abstract. Darwin is commonly understood to be making an analogical argument from domestic breeding to nature, in his On the Origin of Species, to establish the causal efficacy of natural selection. ...
The Quarterly Review of Biology
Philosophy of Science
wish to thank Peter Achinstein and Karen Neander for their helpful criticism and support. David W... more wish to thank Peter Achinstein and Karen Neander for their helpful criticism and support. David Weishampel and Richard Mayden have both been invaluable in helping me to better understand phylogenetic inference and the associated philosophical issues. The helpful comments of the anonymous referees are also appreciated. The views presented here, and any mistakes, are my own.
The Quarterly Review of Biology
The Quarterly Review of Biology
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Papers by Richard Richards