At which university did the English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author who coined the phrase God's utility function work?
God's utility function God's utility function is a phrase coined by Richard Dawkins in his book "River Out of Eden". "God's utility function" is the fourth chapter in this book. Dawkins uses this phrase to expound the gene-centered view of evolution by equating the phrase to the "meaning of life" or the "purpose of life". This is the "why" question about life which philosophers and theologians have been pondering in vain for ages, and is a counterpart to the "how" question about nature which engineers have been able to resolve successfully.
Sewall Wright Sewall Green Wright (December 21, 1889March 3, 1988) was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. He was a founder of population genetics alongside Ronald Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane, which was a major step in the development of the modern synthesis combining genetics with evolution. He discovered the inbreeding coefficient and methods of computing it in pedigree animals. He extended this work to populations, computing the amount of inbreeding between members of populations as a result of random genetic drift, and along with Fisher he pioneered methods for computing the distribution of gene frequencies among populations as a result of the interaction of natural selection, mutation, migration and genetic drift. Wright also made major contributions to mammalian and biochemical genetics.