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SUMMARY:What is an individual? - Theory and practice behind the biological
  concept of individuality - Patricio Salazar
DTSTART:20121025T121000Z
DTEND:20121025T130000Z
UID:TALK39689@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sven Friedemann
DESCRIPTION:You\, me or any other human being are individuals. There is no
  question about that! However\, there are many other organisms for which d
 efining what an individual is can be difficult. The grass\, such as that i
 n Darwin College’s gardens\, is a good example. If we pull out a piece g
 rass we will notice that it consists of a network of underground stems tha
 t could cover the entire garden. What is then an individual plant of grass
 ? Where does it end? Does it ever stop growing? Can we count the number of
  grass individuals that live in Darwin College’s garden? Is there such a
  thing as a World population of grasses? These questions arise because our
  way experiencing individuality is not the rule. In fact\, there are plent
 y of organisms whose individuals are very different from us\, and for some
  other organisms the concept of individuality may not even apply. Furtherm
 ore\, thousands of millions of years ago\, at the beginnings of life on ea
 rth\, individuals did not exist. Therefore\, individuality in the living w
 orld—as we normally think of it—is not a given property of organisms\,
  but is a product of evolution. This talk is about the biological concept 
 of individual and the evolutionary process that generates organismal indiv
 iduality.\n
LOCATION:1 Newnham Terrace\, Darwin College
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