If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear

Your favours nor your hate.

Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3.58-61

 

Welcome to Mind Safari.ORG.

My name is Adil. Currently a newly-minted postgraduate, much of my past and present training includes maths, economics, and evolutionary psychology.

I have also fallen from grace. (A full explanation can be found here.)

Born on the Libyan coast, and of Indian/Pakistani descent, I am British and proud of it. I have been raised in England ever since I was a little boy.

About The Website

My writings will, generally, take a view of the universal people through that most inclusive of lens - evolutionary psychology.

My broad interests include the evolutionary psychology of coalitions, intergroup conflict, and religion. Darwinian psychology is psychology that takes Darwin seriously. All of culture and psychology, I venture to say, is biology. Live organisms, which psychologists focus their studies on, are biological machines and so accordingly conform to biological principles. Given that the unifying principle in all of biology is the principle of evolution by natural selection, it follows that the behaviour of living organisms must be explicable in terms of evolution by natural selection. This is a potent idea, for it carries with it the seeds of immense explanatory power. Just as with evolutionary biology, among the many charms of adopting a Darwinian inquiry into the intricacies of the human mind is not in just simply appreciating the blend of adaptive sophistication and substandard improvisation present in its very structure, but also in understanding the deep-seated context in which both forms exist and operate. This Darwinian or evolutionary psychology is the broad canvas under which I intend to situate this blog.

As for my political and economic beliefs, I am a libertarian, a classical liberal (in the European tradition), a strong believer in the many virtues of capitalism and freedom. Responsible individual liberty and limited government is the best organising principle for a society that seeks to bear the standard of a good civilisation. And like any good civilisation, the unflinching protection of private property rights should serve as its central holy writ.

From time to time, I will also place into context the many worlds of Islam, being the religion that I have come to know the most over the course of my life. Needless to say, the main reason for this unholy interest owes much to the globalisation of militant Islam that, for much of the non-Muslim world, has only recently entered the full light of history. Many of us, I am sure, have often encountered strident Islamists in the past, and have become somewhat intrigued by the remarkable power this political ideology wields over its adherents, who otherwise seem to be quite normal, rational people. The outward behavioural paradoxes that one frequently observes in these Muslims suggest that Islamism is able to tap into something deep into the behavioural psyche. Another reason for my interest in this broad subject owes to the damning behaviour displayed by a disproportionate number of Muslims in response to September 11, and their continuing ambivalent responses to issues of terrorism towards non-Muslims and the spread of totalitarian ideologies in general. You won't, by the way, find any apologetic tracts unconditionally excusing certain aspects of Muslim culture and thinking in my writings. I find such self-pity to be beneath contempt and irredeemably fallacious; I don't support it, and I don't excuse it. Naturalistic and moralistic fallacies have no home here, except in their refutation.

My wonderful girlfriend has long been urging me to take up the blogging pen again. She will be very much involved in overseeing the operation of this blog, as well as with background research.

Once again, welcome to Mind Safari.ORG.