Statistics

Today I attended an Undergraduate Committee meeting for the Department in which it was proposed that a statistics requirement (100-level, intro stats) be removed from the undergraduate degree in anthropology. The argument made is that some students just don't need training in statistics for their goals in anthropology. I argued to the contrary but was over ruled. What do you think?

""Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, a world of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who saunters along."

- Sagan, Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, p. 38"

A Brief History of Anthropology

n my ANTH 401 class, I gave a one-hour lecture on "A Brief History of Anthropology." This focused mostly on North America. Here's the timeline I used.

3D Models of Moai

I received an email today from a faculty member at the University of Washington in Mechanical Engineering -- Mark A. Ganter. Ganter works on rapid prototyping technology as part of the Open3DP project. This is a spectacularly cool technology that enables designers/engineers/artists to design and create three dimensional models directly from computer imaging. According to his web site:

Our process involves 3D printing of an object, depowdering, sintering, and finishing.  In some application an infiltration step is performed with colloidal silica after sintering to decrease porosity and increase strength. Several available dry clay bodies were adapted for use in an existing commercial 3D printer.  We are testing these new materials to provide engineering data (presented as graphs) on sintering temperature verses shrinkage, flexural strength, and porosity for the various clay bodies demonstrated in 3D printing.   Our resulting material is a porous ceramic sponge-like body.

Ganter used 3D point cloud data that I generated from a series of photosynth projects to create a 3D replica of a moai (the "japan" moai that stands near the entrance to Tongariki). There are a number of cool dimensions to this project --- (1) given the Creative Commons license that I've given for the data and images, it has all the makings of a scene in Cory Doctorow's "Maker" book [that I immensely enjoyed] (2) it provides the first actual physical model of a moai that can be used in experiments. Previous models of moai created for transport experiments were largely based on eyeball estimates of shape/form. Consequently, there has been no reason to accept claims about transport being conducted one way or the other, especially given the inherent uncertainty of the center of mass and basal shape. This is the real deal. Notice, for example, how much the head dominates the overall figure as well as the way the head cranes in a forward direction.

Ganter is sending me one of the models he has produced - Can't wait to see it!

Worst. Prehistory of Humans. Ever.

While the empirical problems with this account of human prehistory are almost too numerous to count, this expression of cultural evolution cum Marxist account of human evolution has to be the clearest and, as a result, the worst version I've ever come across. It's almost exquisite in it is use of false (and often dated) assertions as data combined with 19th century European ideals about cultural evolution. Amazing. Oh, and it was a text book (until 2005) at the same institute I teach at. Wait, at the same department. Perhaps this is why science approaches to archaeology are so disliked at CSULB: they just make this sort of stuff embarrassing to everyone. As Moe says after Springfield narrowly misses being destroyed from a comet, "Let's go burn down the observatory so this will never happen again."
http://www.csulb.edu/~eruyle/humanweb/05prerev2003.htm

Live from Philidelphia, it's the AAA witchhunt and self-flagalation show!

As I mentioned earlier, Alice Dreger at Northwestern University recently presented a paper at the American Anthropological Association meetings in Philedelphia on the ghastly behavior of the AAA organization in their "investigation" of Napoleon Chagnon. In her blog, she has provided an account of the session and some of the reactions she received after the talk. Quite in line with the general idiocy and blameless attitude of the AAA organization, she was called "demonic" and unscholarly by Tierney defender Terence Turner at Cornell.

You can find her full account here:

My “Demonic” Debut at theAmerican Anthropological Association

We (anthropologists) should all be embarassed. Many of us should be worried.

This report just came out yesterday in Science.

Chagnon Critics Overstepped Bounds, Historian Says. Science (2009) vol. 326 (5959) pp. 1466

This article describes shocking (yet not particularly surprising) account by historian Alice Dumurat Dreger (Northwestern U.) of the sleazy 2000 Patrick Tierney attack on Napoleon Chagnon and the corrupt way in which the AAA handled the accusations that were levied against Chagnon. Apparently, the AAA's commission as "task force" to look into claims posed by Tierney. As it turns out, the task forced cleared Chagnon, yet went on to state that the allegations had "merit" and had been damaging to the Yanamamö. The shocking part is that the AAA task force was quite aware that the claims were bogus in the first place yet chose to drag Chagnon through the "task force investigation" simply to make political statement to Latin American countries. This is the very definition of a witch hunt, done with the sickening dour earnestness that makes AAA meetings so horrific to attend. Shameful.

As Dreger pointed out in her paper presented at the recent AAA meetings, "I can't imagine how any scholar feels safe" as a member. Exactly: who is next? The witch hunt was sanctified by the AAA because many anthropologists simply have had a longstanding a beef with what Chagnon argued. Sloppy, reprehensible research done by many of the other ass-clowns in the AAA remains "acceptable" simply because it is "PC" enough. Woe be unto those who dare challenge the sacred cows of Anthropology.

Where are the investigations for research done that is never published? Or not published in Open Access formats to provide a product back to the people who handed over their intellectual property for nothing but a signature on a Human Subjects form? Or investigations into those that argue that "their people" don't need to read academic results? Or those who extract intellectual knowledge from their subjects, yet convert that into a "personal journey" of no utility to anyone anywhere.

Sad to be an Anthropologist today....

A Practical Guide to Geostastical Mapping

Just saw this and thought I'd pass it on:

Tomislav Hengl has just released has new book, A Practical Guide to Geostatistical Mapping over at http://spatial-analyst.net/book/. The book is available for free browsing online and as a free PDF download, or you can order a printed copy. The book is made up of lecture material for a PHD course teaching spatial analysis using open source software. All the datasets used in the book are available at the homepage as well." Download the PDF here Interestingly, you can improve the book interactively by using an iPaper application that is part of the www.scribd.com browser. Cool idea.

From the webpage:

Geostatistical mapping can be defined as analytical production of maps by using field observations, auxiliary information and a computer program that generates predictions. The purpose of this guide is to assist you in producing quality maps by using fully-operational open source software packages: R+gstat/geoR and SAGA GIS. Materials presented in this book have been used for the five-day advanced training course "GEOSTAT: spatio-temporal data analysis with R+SAGA+Google Earth" that is periodically organized by the author and collaborators. This is an open access publication!