----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Pensinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I see our morals evolving before our very eyes, don't you?
Not really. Remember there is no purpose to evolution, it just is.
Isn't there at least one, however vaguely defined purpose to evolution: success?
The
survival of the fittest is not the survival of the best. In particular, fittest may be a function of the sequence of environments; so the nature of the fittest can be somewhat random.
But doesn't the randomness of evolution begin to recede once you are actually aware of the evolutionary process and actively abet it?
An animal with a successful adaptation is unaware of what that adaptation is, but a human with a successful innovation can immediately recognize what and why it is successful and continue to build upon it.
An animal is not aware of the social "laws" that guide its behavior, but a human is not only able to see short term benefits of social behaviors, but he is able to 1) compare those behaviors with those of other groups and 2) compare those behaviors with past behaviors. Aberrant behaviors may have short term success, but as in your Native American example, eventually end in failure. In turn, behaviors that eventually prove to be more successful may have appeared and failed one or more times before they succeeded. Evolution. No mumbo jumbo required.
Doug
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