As Homo academicus reaches maturity, its behaviour changes.
The juvenile, once primarily concerned with learning the habits of the colony, begins to display them.
This is a significant developmental transition.
For the mature animal must now attract the attention of other animals.
It must establish its status.
It must secure resources.
It must find collaborators.
It must defend its territory.
And, in some cases, it must reproduce.
The resulting behaviours are collectively known as courtship and display.
The term is somewhat controversial.
Academic researchers generally prefer the expression professional development.
Field biologists remain unconvinced.
The Emergence of Plumage
The mature specimen begins by developing plumage.
Academic plumage varies considerably across populations.
Some animals display publications.
Others display grants.
Some display prestigious appointments.
Others display unusual theoretical vocabulary.
The most successful specimens may display all four simultaneously.
Plumage is particularly conspicuous during periods of heightened competition.
The animal may acquire a new title.
It may update its institutional biography.
It may place a photograph of itself beside a large collection of books.
The books need not have been written by the animal.
Their primary function is visual.
The display communicates:
This specimen has intellectual resources.
The Publication Display
Among the most elaborate forms of plumage is the publication.
The animal produces a long document containing observations about some aspect of the environment.
It then attempts to persuade another animal that the document should be read.
This requires considerable effort.
The manuscript is submitted.
It is examined by several other mature specimens.
The animal waits.
Eventually a message arrives.
The message may contain one of three responses.
The first is acceptance.
The second is rejection.
The third is a request for revision.
The third is particularly interesting.
The animal has been told that its offspring is neither alive nor dead.
It must now return to the nest and alter it.
Repeatedly.
The Revision Ritual
During revision, the animal responds to the comments of other specimens.
This produces a remarkable display of submissive behaviour.
The author writes:
"We thank the reviewer for this helpful observation."
Field researchers have confirmed that the phrase is sometimes sincere.
They have also confirmed that this is not always the case.
The author then changes the manuscript.
Sometimes the change improves it.
Sometimes the change merely demonstrates that the author has understood the reviewer.
In either case, the manuscript eventually returns to the habitat.
If successful, it is published.
The animal has increased its plumage.
The Citation Display
Publication alone is insufficient.
The mature specimen must demonstrate that other animals have noticed it.
It therefore watches for citations.
A citation is a small but valuable signal.
One citation indicates recognition.
Several citations indicate social visibility.
A large number of citations may produce changes in plumage that are visible from considerable distance.
Some animals develop specialised techniques for increasing citation visibility.
They produce review articles.
They organise special issues.
They establish conceptual terminology.
The most successful create an entire vocabulary around their own work.
At this stage, the animal's intellectual territory can expand rapidly.
The Call of Originality
The mature specimen must also demonstrate novelty.
It cannot simply reproduce what the herd already knows.
It must produce something that is both familiar and new.
This creates an evolutionary problem.
If the animal is too similar to its population, it is difficult to distinguish.
If it is too different, the population may fail to recognise it.
The successful specimen therefore develops controlled novelty.
It says:
"Building on previous work..."
and then introduces something that is not quite what previous work said.
This behaviour is widespread.
Researchers believe it may represent one of the species' most successful adaptations.
The Keynote Display
The most elaborate mature display occurs when an animal is invited to deliver a keynote address.
The specimen enters a large room.
Hundreds of animals gather.
The plumage is fully developed.
The animal stands at the front.
Behind it appears a large illuminated rectangle.
The specimen begins.
It does not appear to be nervous.
This is a dominance display.
The keynote animal may speak for an hour without interruption.
The audience listens.
Occasionally, one member of the audience nods slowly.
This appears to be a submissive response.
At the conclusion, the colony applauds.
The display has been successful.
The Seminar Display
The seminar is more dangerous.
Here, the mature specimen cannot simply display.
It must defend.
Another animal may raise its hand.
The question begins politely.
"I'm wondering whether..."
The keynote animal is replaced by a more defensive posture.
The specimen pauses.
It answers.
Another question follows.
Then another.
The exchange may continue for several minutes.
This is known as ritualised intellectual combat.
Unlike physical combat, the participants attempt to maintain an appearance of mutual respect.
This is thought to reduce injury to the colony.
It does not always succeed.
The Question
The question itself is a remarkably versatile instrument.
It can request information.
It can express disagreement.
It can establish status.
It can display knowledge.
It can mark territory.
It can attract a potential collaborator.
It can demonstrate that the questioner has read something the speaker has not.
The most sophisticated specimens can perform several of these functions simultaneously.
Juveniles generally use questions for information.
Mature animals know better.
The Conference Migration
At certain times of year, the mature animals leave their territories.
They travel long distances to gather with other populations.
This is known as conference migration.
The reasons for migration are not entirely understood.
Officially, the animals are attending to exchange knowledge.
However, observations reveal considerable time spent:
standing near coffee;
examining name badges;
discussing funding;
exchanging professional histories;
asking what others are working on;
and attempting to remember whether they have met before.
The conference therefore appears to serve an important social function.
It allows the animals to inspect one another's plumage.
The Conference Aggregation
When sufficient numbers of Homo academicus gather, the environment changes dramatically.
The density of intellectual signalling increases.
Animals display their affiliations.
They announce their research.
They identify members of their own population.
They locate potential collaborators.
They locate potential rivals.
They locate members of populations with which their own population has recently entered a period of conceptual conflict.
The conference is therefore simultaneously:
a mating ground, a marketplace, a territorial boundary and a census.
The animals themselves describe it as networking.
The Name Badge
The conference badge is a specialised signalling device.
It contains the animal's name, institutional affiliation and sometimes its disciplinary identity.
This allows rapid classification.
An experienced specimen can scan a room and identify:
potential collaborators;
important animals;
animals who might be important later;
animals who have published something interesting;
and animals who are currently speaking to someone more important.
The badge therefore reduces the energetic cost of social selection.
The Networking Ritual
Two animals approach one another.
One says:
"Hi, I'm..."
The other responds.
A brief exchange follows.
"What are you working on?"
The first animal describes its territory.
The second animal listens.
There is a pause.
Then:
"We should talk."
This phrase is highly ambiguous.
It may indicate genuine interest.
It may indicate polite termination.
It may indicate that one animal wishes to extract information.
Only experienced specimens can distinguish the calls.
Courtship Through Collaboration
Some animals seek mates.
Others seek collaborators.
The distinction is not always obvious.
A potential collaborator may possess:
complementary skills;
institutional access;
useful data;
methodological expertise;
funding opportunities;
or an attractive publication record.
The courtship begins.
"Have you thought about..."
"Perhaps we could..."
"It would be interesting to bring these things together."
The animals become excited.
A project is proposed.
An application is written.
If successful, several offspring may result.
These are called papers.
The Grant Display
The grant is perhaps the most elaborate display in the entire species.
The animal constructs an enormous document explaining why it requires resources to investigate something.
The document must demonstrate:
originality;
significance;
feasibility;
impact;
methodological sophistication;
social value;
and confidence that the proposed work will succeed.
It must simultaneously appear sufficiently innovative to justify funding and sufficiently certain to reassure the funder.
This presents an evolutionary paradox.
The animal must demonstrate that the research is:
new enough to be exciting, but predictable enough to be safe.
The successful grant applicant receives resources.
The animal's status rises.
Its plumage becomes more conspicuous.
Its territory expands.
It may acquire juveniles.
The reproductive cycle accelerates.
Moral Plumage
Not all displays are intellectual.
Some animals have discovered that moral characteristics can also function as plumage.
This is particularly effective among juveniles.
A mature specimen may display conspicuous concern for:
justice;
equality;
liberation;
inclusion;
oppression;
the environment;
or the welfare of vulnerable populations.
These signals can be entirely sincere.
Indeed, sincerity may enhance their effectiveness.
The behaviour is therefore difficult to interpret from observation alone.
Field researchers have coined the term moral plumage.
The Mandela Factor
A particularly striking form of moral plumage has been observed among some male specimens.
The animal presents itself as a courageous defender of the vulnerable and an opponent of injustice.
This behaviour can produce unusually strong responses among idealistic juveniles.
The juvenile sees the adult not merely as an academic but as a moral exemplar.
The adult thereby acquires increased social influence.
Researchers have named this phenomenon the Mandela Factor, after the unusually powerful combination of moral authority, political symbolism and personal charisma associated with Nelson Mandela.
The comparison is not intended to suggest equivalence.
Rather, it identifies a particular mechanism of social signalling.
The evolutionary question is whether moral display predicts moral behaviour.
Evidence is mixed.
Some animals genuinely undertake costly acts on behalf of others.
Others appear to discover that the display itself is sufficient.
The distinction can be difficult to establish.
This is because the animal being observed is also the animal doing the observing.
Costly Signalling
This leads to an important principle of academic ethology.
Signals are more credible when they are costly.
A specimen that sacrifices status, income, security or professional advancement for a principle may be communicating something significant.
A specimen that sacrifices none of these things may still be communicating something.
The two signals are not necessarily equivalent.
The colony, however, often has difficulty distinguishing them.
Researchers have therefore proposed the Costly Signalling Principle:
The reliability of a display increases with the cost incurred by displaying it.
The principle is considered useful.
It is not widely cited.
The Courtship of the Institution
Eventually, the mature animal may attempt to attract the institution itself.
It applies for promotion.
It seeks a prestigious appointment.
It submits a major grant.
It nominates itself—or allows itself to be nominated—for an award.
The display intensifies.
The animal demonstrates:
impact.
leadership.
innovation.
excellence.
strategic alignment.
These signals appear repeatedly across the tertiary habitat.
Their precise meaning varies.
Their reproductive function does not.
The institution selects.
The animal is either elevated or ignored.
If elevated, it acquires more resources.
If ignored, it may migrate.
Migration to a Richer Habitat
A mature specimen whose plumage is insufficiently recognised may leave its current territory.
It moves to another institution.
The animal explains the migration in terms of:
"new opportunities."
This may be true.
But field researchers have observed that migration frequently occurs after the animal has established that its plumage will be more visible elsewhere.
The process resembles ecological relocation.
A richer habitat provides:
greater resources;
greater visibility;
more juveniles;
larger territories;
and improved reproductive opportunities.
The animal moves.
Its former colleagues say that they are sorry to see it go.
Its new colleagues say that they are delighted to welcome it.
The animal updates its biography.
The cycle continues.
The Mature Display
After several years, the successful specimen has acquired considerable plumage.
It possesses publications.
It has citations.
It may have grants.
It may have students.
It may have a chair.
It has established a territory.
It has become visible.
And visibility itself now attracts further visibility.
Young animals approach.
They ask questions.
They seek supervision.
They request advice.
They want to work with the specimen.
The mature animal has become a signal source.
It no longer needs to pursue the juveniles.
They come to it.
The Paradox of Success
This creates a curious evolutionary feedback loop.
The more successful an animal becomes at displaying academic fitness, the more opportunities it receives to display academic fitness.
The more it publishes, the more it is invited to speak.
The more it speaks, the more it is cited.
The more it is cited, the more prestigious its invitations become.
The more prestigious its invitations, the more attractive it becomes to juveniles.
The more juveniles it attracts, the larger its intellectual lineage becomes.
Success therefore reproduces itself.
Researchers call this cumulative display advantage.
The animals call it a career.
As evening approaches, the conference centre begins to empty.
The animals gather for one final ritual.
Some exchange cards.
Some exchange promises.
Some exchange manuscripts.
Some exchange compliments.
A few have discovered genuine intellectual companionship.
Others have merely exchanged signals.
It is difficult to tell which is which.
The lights go down.
The mature animals return to their habitats.
The juveniles carry their notebooks home.
Some are already thinking about the adults they have met.
Some have been impressed by a theory.
Some by a personality.
Some by a publication record.
Some by moral conviction.
Some, perhaps, by a remarkably well-delivered keynote.
They have been watching.
And they have been watched.
For in Homo academicus, display is not merely a way of attracting attention.
It is a way of teaching the young animal what deserves attention.
The mature specimen displays what it has learned to value.
The juvenile learns what value looks like.
And thus, once again, courtship becomes education.
Education becomes imitation.
And imitation becomes inheritance.
Next week: Episode V — Territorial Behaviour
The mature animals have established their plumage. Now they must defend their territories. We examine conceptual boundaries, disciplinary aggression, the footnote fence, and the remarkable ability of academics to fight over territory without ever appearing to move.
