Early afternoon. The cleaning ladies arrived and left, you, Carol and Brennan left during their work time, stopped by McD’s for drinks over to Fairmount’s On The Rise for two Jennifer cookies, and stop at the Lake Park in Shaker for lunch (Carol had made turkey and cheese sandwiches and you had chips along.) During the time Brennan also had lunch and a change of diaper. Everyone enjoyed the park and nearby drive.
1341 hours. In checking email I found this short work that fits in with thoughts on heartansoulanmind. I don’t know that I completely agree, but it gets the blood flowing to the brain – and since when is that a bad thing?
** **
THE FALSE ALLURE OF GROUP SELECTION
An Edge Original Essay
Steven Pinker [6.18.12]
STEVEN PINKER is a Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology; Harvard University. Author, The Better Angels Of Our Nature: How Violence Has Declined, The Language Instinct, and How the Mind Works.
THE FALSE ALLURE OF GROUP SELECTION
Human beings live in groups, are affected by the fortunes of their groups, and sometimes make sacrifices that benefit their groups. Does this mean that the human brain has been shaped by natural selection to promote the welfare of the group in competition with other groups, even when it damages the welfare of the person and his or her kin? If so, does the theory of natural selection have to be revamped to designate "groups" as units of selection, analogous to the role played in the theory by genes?
Several scientists whom I greatly respect have said so in prominent places. And they have gone on to use the theory of group selection to make eye-opening claims about the human condition.[i] They have claimed that human morailty, particularly our willingness to engage in acts of altruism, can be explained as an adaptation to group-against-group competition. As E. O. Wilson explains, "In a group, selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals. But, groups of altruistic individuals beat groups of selfish individuals." They have proposed that group selection can explain the mystery of religion, because a shared belief in supernatural beings can foster group cohesion. They suggest that evolution has equipped humans to solve tragedies of the commons (also known as collective action dilemmas and public goods games), in which actions that benefit the individual may harm the community; familiar examples include overfishing, highway congestion, tax evasion, and carbon emissions. And they have drawn normative moral and political conclusions from these scientific beliefs, such as that we should recognize the wisdom behind conservative values, like religiosity, patriotism, and puritanism, and that we should valorize a communitarian loyalty and sacrifice for the good of the group over an every-man-for-himself individualism.
From: Edge 371: Pinker on The False Allure of Group Selection; (Edge.org June 18, 2012)
** **
1408 hours. I am trying to remember where we were in the metaphysical lessons and have reviewed much of this month – seems to me I got off track.
Not so far off track as you appear to think. Time to download the posting for this month so far and place them in the offline document for clarification. I will edit where needed. – Amorella
Later. The 9 June and the 16 June posts are deleted as far as the Metaphysical Lessons are concerned. The other blog postings have been edited and/or slightly revised for continuity. – Amorella
Where do we go from here, Amorella?
No comments:
Post a Comment