Article archive / December 2018
Originally published: . Volume 9, No. 12. Source pages: 2.
One of the perks of volunteering for the state psychological association is having the authority to call around to the greatest scientists alive today and ask them to speak at some event.
So, with some finagling, I was able to meet and talk a bit with the legendary scientist, Robert Trivers, and travel back in time.
Known for being unconventional to the point of eccentricity, he wore a leather cycle jacket with his shirt tail hanging crookedly and spoke candidly about being "tied down in the back ward of a mental hospital," his drug use days, and riding with the Black Panthers. Too much background noise at dinner prompted him to wad up pieces of paper napkins and stuff them in his ears, where they dangled all evening, like little white wings.
Trivers is considered one of the top thinkers of the 20th century. He uncovered the genetic origins and psychological complexity of social traits, theoretical insights that have not yet begun to reach their full usefulness in the mainstream of our science or practice.
For time travel it helps to have someone like Dr. Trivers, who exists outside of the typical flow of things. Another requirement for effective time travel is finding the right setting. Like visiting a childhood homestead, where faded memories automatically conjure the past. So for this, I needed the Hotel Monteleone.
We were given the Queen Anne Ballroom with its cathedral ceilings and chandeliers, all glowing in warm, creamy tones and rich elegance. They served us New Orleans coffees and sparkling water and we sat with colleagues at comfortable, spacious tables and listened to great and important ideas in our science.
I was back 40 years, listening to another legendary scientist, Hans Eysenck, also speaking to psychologists at the Monteleone. Eysenck was perhaps the most prolific and courageous psychologist of the last century––maybe of all time. Pick up any one of his now classic books and you'll be treated to brilliantly clear, timeless, scientific thinking on the subject.
I was barely out of my first years of doctoral training when I listened to Eysenck and shook his hand while on a river boat, cruising along the shore of the Mississippi. And so next, in the blink of an eye, I get to shake the hand of Robert Trivers.
How comforting I find this to be––our science, our eternal perspective. Where our past, present and future merge into crystalline thought. Where ideas wing their way across space and time.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.