[ExI] tech influence

[Anders Sandberg]

Tara Maya <tara at taramayastales.com> , 8/2/2014 4:04 AM:
Selective pressure now favors will power and forethought. 
Example #1: In the past, people only exercised when they were hungry. There was no selective to pressure to exercise when you had plenty to eat. Now, however, bounty poses as much a threat to health as scarcity, which requires more forethought, will power and intelligence to the matter of exercise than in the past. 

Selection for what? Slim gym-rats with nouveaux cuisine tastes might be desirable and healthy, but they do not get much more kids. So it is not genetic selection we are talking about. We might be doing memetic selection by imitating them, but again the focus is on social standing rather than good health outcomes.
Yes, I agree that there are memetic and genetic pressures. But they might not point in neat, consistent directions. And the inheritance/copying of genes/memes is also both slow and somewhat random. 

Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University
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