I'm a philosopher of science with a focus on evolution and the mind.
I received my PhD in philosophy from Stanford in late 2005, where I was an NSF graduate fellow. I am currently an independent scholar based in the Cambridge/Boston area.
My current research addresses evolution and human culture: In what ways does an evolutionary perspective contribute to, or hinder, our understanding of cultural change? How has culture shaped the evolution of human cognition?
I also have a background in technology and strategy. I've consulted on data mining and text analytics to a variety of tech companies and organizations, I'm a former entrepreneur, and I served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company between 2005-2007.
I'm
Visual comparison of mainstream and social media at Pop!Tech 2009. with Nicholas Felton and Rob Deeming.
Algorithms for semantic and social analysis of Twitter (TLists, 2009)
Can we measure cultural evolution online? My talk at ISHPSSB 2009 in Brisbane
Automated topic classification of web pages using Mechanical Turk and SVMs (bit.ly, 2009)
Automated topic classification of news articles (outside.in, 2009)
Natural language parsing of clinical trial descriptions (healogica, 2008)
Automated summarization and sentiment analysis of user reviews (Pluribo, 2007-2008, featured in Discover Magazine)
Agent-based models of predation, (with Michael Weisberg, 2007)
Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force - http://nyti.ms/9AoBTp 1 week, 1 day ago
En route from Boston to the MBL at Woods Hole to discuss the use of text analytics for studying the history and philosophy of science. 1 week, 5 days ago
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The Robust Volterra Principle with Michael Weisberg, Philosophy of Science 75:106-131, 2008.
Can there be Stochastic Evolutionary Causes? with Patrick Forber, Philosophy of Science 74:616-627, 2007.
Is Culture Inherited through Social Learning?, Biological Theory, 2007.
Thinking Like a Wolf, a Sheep, or a Firefly: Learning Biology Through Constructing and Testing Computational Theories with Uri Wilensky, Cognition & Instruction, 2006.
Manipulation and the Causes of Evolution with Patrick Forber, Philosophy of Science 72:1113-1123, 2005.
Review of J.E.R. Staddon, Adaptive Dynamics: The Theoretical Analysis of Behavior, Biology & Philosophy, 2003.