Edward O Wilson (1929-2021): The Fearless Biologist

The young speaker, the last on a list in a science conference, had his right ankle ina cast and was using crutches. He had to deliver his address sitting. As he started, suddenly, some youths rushed to the stage chanting slogans and insults ‘Racist you cannot hide; we charge you with Genocide.’ A group of students started shouting with placards against the speaker. The leader of the group rushed to the lectern.

The moderator of the panel, a seasoned anthropologist, told the protestors to stop and pleaded with them ‘I am also a Marxist.’ As if on cue, a woman protestor standing behind poured a pitcher of ice water on the head of the speaker who had just started speaking. An eye witness described the event later as ‘the most hateful, frightening, disgusting behavior I’ve ever witnessed at an academic assembly.’

The speaker was Edward Wilson – a natural scientist who studied ants and created the basic framework for sociobiology. The conference was that of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). With ice-water poured on his head, forced to sit because of his already injured leg, Wilson proceeded to read ‘Trends in Sociobiological Research’ even as the protestors indulged in slogan chanting to humiliate him: ‘Wilson, you are all wet!’

Edward Wilson had seen life at its toughest, right from childhood. His chosen field was entomology – particularly the ants. His inspiration was ethologist Konrad Lorenz. Wilson slowly moved away from the usual work of taxonomic classification of ants to the study of their behaviour through ingenious methods.

Today, we know that pheromones are employed by insects for communication as well as for sexually attracting the opposite sex. Pheromone traps are one of the ecologically better ways of pest control in agriculture.

From the social behaviour of insects, which very much had genetic component in them, he moved on to human societies.

In 1975 he published the book The Sociobiology the New Synthesis. Even while dealing with insect societies, Wilson made the following observation:

The book on sociobiology was a sequel to this observation. Academics with Marxist orientation led by Marxist ‘dialectical biologist’ Lewontin went far beyond academic criticism. Wilson was called names and labelled as racist and his lectures were threatened and disrupted by left-wing student unions.

Though a scientific materialist, he saw process theology and Deist tradition as the best possible pathways for Western religion to move into in the future. While the Marxists in their ideological vested interest called him a crypto-racist, Wilson was not. He was a scientific materialist and battle-hard evolutionist who was moved to tears in 1984 when the gospel choir sang after a sermon by Martin Luther King's father at Harvard.

Seeking truth and genuine dialogue in pursuit of truth is a trait beyond political vested interests.

Perhaps the behaviourist school of B F Skinner could be considered as the farthest-away conception of human nature from that of E. O. Wilson. For Behaviourism it is the environment that played a decisive role in the human nature. For sociobiology the genes and culture coevolved. But both these scientific giants in the field respected each other and in 1987 (three years before Skinner’s death) they had a wonderful dialogue on their worldview.

Skinner’s daughter, Julie Vargas, in her introduction to the book E.O. Wilson and B.F. Skinner: a Dialogue Between Sociobiology and Radical Behaviorism remarked:

In 1980 Wilson became interested in the problems of ecology as he could sense that the planet was moving towards a global environmental crisis.

The words ‘open discussion and unwavering intellectual rigor in an atmosphere of mutual respect ‘ actually provide the basis for samanvaya process in the context of science and religion. And this also opens up the space for civilizational dialogue for Hinduism with science.

It is really a pity that Wilson never studied the Hindu religious phenomena as an evolutionist. Today, with the development of neurotheology, the present generation Hindus can perhaps come out with serious advancement in this field by applying Darwinian principles to the phenomenon of our religion.

A 92-years-old man passing away is almost expected. Yet in his passing away, an important chapter in the saga of human understanding of evolution comes to a close. May his memory, as a scientist who spoke truth in the face of physical assault and threat of academic isolation, as an ecologist who cared for the planet and above all a wonderful human being, inspire the next generation of biologists to continue the chapter from where he has left it.