In a message dated 7/20/01 7:26:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<<
Given that people are selfish and short sighted and wuld likely not say
yes to any of these questions,the obvious conclusion is that the human
race is doomed, as a result of our selfish ape/selfish gene
heritage. Future generations WILL pay for what we do now.
>>
But remember that your selfish genes cooperated well enough to create the
vast complex history of life on this planet. Selfishness is not in and of
itself bad. Selfish does not equal competitive. Roger Lewin put it well.
Genes always behave in their own short tem interest. More often than not this
involves cooperation rather than competition (the only example of pure
competition amoung genes is between different of the same gene - allelles -
that can increase or decrease only at each other's expense - a zero sum game.
Non-zero sum games are much more productive since they allow for many winners
and increase the pot if you will. Humans are selfish but we have some
advantages over our genes. We can and have conceived of the notion of
non-selfish altruism - giving up your genetic heritage for the betterment of
others. We can also plan for more than one generation. It isn't easy but it
can be done (I think it is being done).
