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Re: PROBING
Martin Dann (mdann@j39to56.demon.co.uk)
Wed, 9 Oct 1996 18:59:52 +0100
In article <53gai0$496@news.sas.ab.ca>, czar@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
writes
>
>: >Thomas Scharle (scharle@ubiquity.cc.nd.edu) wrote:
>
>: >: Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Galapagos" has some speculations about
>: >: that.
>: >Czar wrote:
>: >While an excellent writer, KV's scientific literacy has much to be
>: >desired.
>
>: Is that a literary comment or a challenge to the idea that evolution is
>: about survival rather that superiority?
>
>All three. As for evolution being "about survival rather than
>superiority", it is simple *results* that count in nature -- what
>survives (and therefore reproduces) is, by definition, something that
>out-competed (demonstrated "superiority" to) what *didn't* survive.
>
I can't disagree with that. The "superiority" I was referring to was
intellectual superiority. The reasons we humans think we are so damned
smart is because we are. My challenge is to the notion that smartness is
necessarily a "good thing" in evolutionary terms. There are species
around which have been around longer than we have, and will probably be
here when we are long gone. And many of them have little if any brain at
all.
Regards
--
Martin Dann
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