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RE: ...

in #life7 years ago

Interesting perspective but I am skeptical. You suggest that evolution might "might lead us in a far more harmonious, successful direction" than culture.

I dunno.

All evolution cares about is gene replication. That's it. It doesn't care about human flourishing, or morality, or any of the cultural values we hold dear.

I believe that we can hold ourselves to a higher standard given to us through our own rationality and self-consciousness. We can set our own narratives independently of the pressures for gene replication. That's what makes us special.

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This, people anthropomorphise the world as if it cares, it doesn't, and the lion eating the cubs of it's competitor is no different than making the switchboard worker redundant. It's a fact, utterly without moral quality.

I think evolution definitely does tend to apply to morals and us flourishing in many ways... mainly because of the social construct of humanity. In fact, our moods are adaptive and have evolved over time in response to our environment. Considering that people are social creatures, highly dependent on our moods and sometimes a slave to our horomones by design, it could be said that there is more than meets the eye. Granted, it's not like the genes give a crap how we FEEL lol but in the grander design I think there is a place for the evolution of these things and they are interconnected, and something we don't entirely control on our own. At least not anymore. We learn coping skills at an age when reason and logic mean little, we react before we learn to think... again by design. The act of learning to break through and practice rationality, be aware of the conscious and navigate, I believe, is a part of our adaptation both as individuals and as a species.