[ExI] Anti-transhumanist crap on Kuro5hin and related.

[Kevin H]

On 11/8/07, Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com> wrote:
>
> Keith Henson wrote,
> > Genes build brains with particular motivations. These
> > genes were selected during the millions of years our
> > ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers that built brains
> > with inclinations to do things that improved the genes
> > chances of being present in the next generation.
>
> This is really a nit hardly worth mentioning.  (But for some reason, here
> I
> go....)
>
> It is a personal pet peeve of mine that people anthropomorphize
> "evolution"
> into trying to propagate genes to the next generation.  Evolution has no
> such goals.  In reality, the cause and effect are reversed.  Creatures
> undergo random mutations or pursue random acts with no clear goal toward
> propagation.  It is by sheer statistics that those changes less likely to
> survive tend to die out while those changes more likely to survive
> increase
> in number.  But this should imply no motivation to the creatures involved
> to
> actually reproduce.  They are usually just rutting beasts that are focused
> on their short-term goals rather than long-term goals.


I just wanted to say Thank You!  It's a pet peeve of mine also, mainly
because people come to all sorts of invalid views based on said
anthropormization: namely, that evolution proceeds towards some kind of
goal, like a pre-established or pre-determinable state of "fitness".  But in
reality, evolution is nothing but another word for "change": it doesn't
imply that what it changes into will be better, more complex, more extropic,
or anything else; we really have no idea where this tumbleweed will blow off
to next.

Best regards,

Kevin
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