4th September 2005, 7:13 PM
I believe I was arguing as much myself. It's just that many different traits can allow for survival. Sheer strength is only a positive trait in those instances where it is a positive trait. ... I know, but that sort of obvious realization is the sort of thing most people seem to miss.
Think of evolution as a sort of energy flow. The path of least resistance, so to speak. Whatever offers the least resistance is the path that will be taken. For example, animals will tend to live in the areas that most favor their own survival simply because that offers least resistance. The greater resistance of surrounding areas forces them out via death. Brutal domination only raises chances of survival in very limited instances. The best tactic most animals have is to stay out of the way of the rest of them. If you get in a lot of animal's way, eventually they will take the path of least resistance. That will either be getting out of your way so you no longer have their utility to your advantage, dying so you no longer have the advantage of their servitude, or becoming stronger than you, at which point you will KNOW the fear you have met out lo those many years.
What I'm saying is this. What grants the best chances of survival change. There's no absolute. However, yes the strongest genes that grant survival are the ones most likely to be passed on.
And no, intellect interfering makes no difference in this process. In that case the traints that become the most valued are determined by us, but the same rules apply. For example, dog breeding. In this case, the traits promising the best chances of survival are the cutest and saddest puppy dog eyes, the most playful without being destructive, and so on. Suddenly, the traits that would lead it to survival in the wild are no longer important. Evolution still happens, but as traits like being able to breathe well are no longer critical, dogs like the pug come into existance.
And so, it comes back to this. The path of least resistance, the path where the "energy flow" of evolution tends to flow to the easiest for our species to keep on going, is simply one of helping out total strangers. By helping them out, they continue to exist in spite of themselves, and thus humanity sticks around a bit more.
Think of evolution as a sort of energy flow. The path of least resistance, so to speak. Whatever offers the least resistance is the path that will be taken. For example, animals will tend to live in the areas that most favor their own survival simply because that offers least resistance. The greater resistance of surrounding areas forces them out via death. Brutal domination only raises chances of survival in very limited instances. The best tactic most animals have is to stay out of the way of the rest of them. If you get in a lot of animal's way, eventually they will take the path of least resistance. That will either be getting out of your way so you no longer have their utility to your advantage, dying so you no longer have the advantage of their servitude, or becoming stronger than you, at which point you will KNOW the fear you have met out lo those many years.
What I'm saying is this. What grants the best chances of survival change. There's no absolute. However, yes the strongest genes that grant survival are the ones most likely to be passed on.
And no, intellect interfering makes no difference in this process. In that case the traints that become the most valued are determined by us, but the same rules apply. For example, dog breeding. In this case, the traits promising the best chances of survival are the cutest and saddest puppy dog eyes, the most playful without being destructive, and so on. Suddenly, the traits that would lead it to survival in the wild are no longer important. Evolution still happens, but as traits like being able to breathe well are no longer critical, dogs like the pug come into existance.
And so, it comes back to this. The path of least resistance, the path where the "energy flow" of evolution tends to flow to the easiest for our species to keep on going, is simply one of helping out total strangers. By helping them out, they continue to exist in spite of themselves, and thus humanity sticks around a bit more.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)