Burton Voorhees was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1942. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, majoring in physics, received an M.Sc. in physics from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in general relativity. His first academic appointment was as visiting assistant professor of physics and mathematics at Pars College in Tehran, Iran. His experiences there led to a life-long interest in the diversity of human cultures and, through an exchange of essays in the Tehran Journal with a student of Sufism, an abiding interest in metaphysics. After two years in Iran, he took up a postdoctoral position in mathematics at the University of Alberta. There he branched out, working in mathematical biology and as a research assistant in the University of Alberta Centre for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology where he studied psychology, cultural psychology, and philosophy of science. In 1982 he was appointed associate professor of mathematics at Athabasca University, Canada’s premier distance education university, becoming full professor in 1987. He retired as professor emeritus at the end of 2014 and lives with his wife Kinga in Victoria, British Columbia. In addition to over one hundred scientific papers, he recently published The Garden Path, a book of illustrated limericks in the spirit of Omar Khayyam. He is currently working on a history of science from the perspective of cognitive science.
A dead man walking passed my way, I asked him, Sir, what can you say? He gave a quick grin And said, it's no sin To laugh and to dance and to play.
Research interests
Historical development of science
Cultural evolution
Educational credentials
A.B. University of California, Berkeley
M.S. University of Arizona
Ph.D. University of Texas, Austin
Voorhees, Burton (2022) The Garden Path. Hawkeye Publications.
Voorhees, Burton (2022) What are group level traits and how do they evolve? Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science.
Voorhees, Burton (2020) Enigmas of reason. Journal of Consciousness Studies 27 (9-10).
Voorhees, Burton, Dwight Read, and Liane Gabora (2020) Identity, kinship, and the evolution of cooperation. Current Anthropology 61(2).
Voorhees, Burton & Murray, Alex (2013) Fixation probabilities for simple digraphs. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 469 no. 2154, April 17, 20120676.
Voorhees, Burton (2013) Birth-death fixation probabilities in a structured population. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 469 no. 2153, March 6, 20120248.
Voorhees, B., Senez, J., Keeler, T., & Connors, M. (2008) A population model of the stability-flexibility tradeoff. Advances in Complex Systems 11(3) 443 - 470.
Voorhees, B. (2004) Embodied mathematics. Journal of Consciousness Studies 11(9) 83 – 88.
Voorhees, B. (2004) Embodied mathematics. Journal of Consciousness Studies 11(9)
Voorhees, B. Dennett and the deep blue sea. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2000.
Voorhees, B. (1999) Gödel’s theorem and strong AI: Is reason blind? In Gustaaf C. Cornelis, Sonja Smets, & Jean-Paul van Bendegem (eds.) Metadebates on Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 43 – 62.
Computational Analysis of One-Dimensional Cellular Automata. World Scientific (1996) ISBN 981-02-2221-1.
Voorhees, B.H. Axiometric theory of hierarchical systems. Applied Systems and Cybernetics, Vol. I. (Lasker, G.E., ed.) Pergamon, New York. 1981.
Voorhees, B.H. On the algebraic type of spacetimes possessing a non-singular killing horizon. Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation 9, 5. 1978.
We dance and sing in sweet delight, Wending homeward through the night. At end of the day What scene's left to play Save toasting the gift of the light.