[ExI] don't let your guard down, not for a minute...

[Keith Henson]

On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 9:58 AM,  John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:

snip (nice reply to giovanni santostasi)

>> "All what I'm saying is that Marxism could work when people are more evolved. What is wrong with that statement?"
>
> Well in the first place "more evolved" is a statement so ambiguous as to be totally meaningless. In the second place natural Evolution works too slowly to be a significant factor in the future of humanity; and even if it was I don't see why a gene for producing more children would make communes less problematic, I can't find even a hint that people who have lots of children do better under communism.

You might want to read Gregory Clark's article "Genetically
Capitalist?  The Malthusian Era, Institutions and the Formation of
Modern Preferences (2007)"

He argues (from looking at probated wills) that the English over at
least 20 generations underwent selection as severe as that used by the
Russians to make tame foxes out of wild ones.  But your point is
exact, evolution is way to slow to make any effect in 4 generations,
the most we have over the next century.

snip

> The basic fact about the universe is that while your happiness may be important it will never be as important as my happiness, this is just the nature of reality,

>From the gene's viewpoint, happiness isn't the point.  Reproductive
success is, and if you are miserable in the process, that's just to
bad.  :-)

Keith