[Peter] Re natural selection, I don't profess more than a layman's knowledge but as I understand it gene mutations may be random but the selection of heritable genes is a cumulative process and genes that are selected over a number of generations are more likely to be selected again in the next generation.
[Krimel] Dennett claims this is what makes Darwin's ideas so very dangerous; laymen can understand it. PBS had an extraordinary series on evolution now too long ago. I highly recommend it. The selective pressure from the environment cause changes in the distribution of traits in a population. While mutation is a source of variation most change in evolution results for sliding distribution of these traits. The beaks of the Galapagos finches for example: it was the use that the birds made of their beaks in difference environments that accounts for the differences, not mutation. [Peter] Determinism seems to me to be a bit of a misnomer. Wikipedia indicates the scholarly meaning to be that from any given state there is only one possible future state, whereas evolved organisms such as as ourselves can, to an extent, determine our own future and so are non-deterministic. [Krimel] I think the point of determinism is that there is always cause and effect. Newtonian thinking produced a fairly rigid and I must say optimistic view that we could eventually know them all. In the end it is prediction that matters. If we knew all of the cause and their effects we could predict the future perfectly. The problem as it turns out is that all the causes and effects can not be specified. So while determinism still seems to whole its power to predict is severely weakened. [Peter] I agree that we should try to map together the MoQ and the famous black and white, Yin/Yang symbol. But Yin and Yang represent opposing yet interactive forces, the reconciliation of which shows us the way. First you say that DQ is equivalent to the Tao, then you say it is equivalent to the Yang passive force (your ordering was SQ/DQ, Yin/Yang, Active/Passive); If memory serves me, Scott used to say something similar except he had DQ as the active force. I don't agree with either of these views. In the practice of T'ai Chi Chuan, Yin is the active out breath, while Yang is the passive intake of breath. DQ cannot be both the Tao and either/or Yin or Yang. [Krimel] I frequently change the order of things. It's a left handed thing. I have always understood the Yin is female and Yang is active. [Peter] Still, at least we seem to agree that the top down view of the MoQ levels is a fallacy. [Krimel] Indeed! Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
