DM, Krim, That Ernst Mayr stuff and Pirsig's published take on evolution as competitive pre-dates much "extended phenotype" thinking.
The "organism" may be an ecologically interconnected complex set of species, with co-evolution going on, rather than one one one competition. I keep saying "red in tooth and claw" is old hat - for the rabid free-marketeers to hang their hats on. But ideas evolve as Pirsig also says and his description of evolution were OK historically. Ian On 5/15/08, Krimel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [Pirsig summarizing Mayr] > > "Evolution is recklessly opportunistic: it favors any variation that > > provides a competitive advantage over other members of an organism's own > > population or over individuals of different species. For billions of years > > this process has automatically fueled what we call evolutionary progress. > > No program controlled or directed this progression. It was the result of > > spur of the moment decisions of natural selection." > > DM: > Is everything a matter of competition? Is this metaphor always the best > one? Maybe variety is an explosion of excess. > > [Krimel] > No, everything is not a matter of competition. This is part of what makes > Chapter 11 such a disappointment. The value of the social level is its > reliance on cooperation as a strategy for reproductive success. > > DM: > Without limits like DNA to reduce excess and variety it seems that almost > anything is possible. > > [Krimel] > The flexibility, adaptability and universality of evolutionary theory the > makes it both beautiful and desirable. > > DM: > Is it all a tale or winners and losers, or is it a tale or what seems > Valuable and desirable and what does not? > > [Krimel] > Isn't winning valuable and desirable and losing, not? Sounds like the same > tale to me. > > DM: > I mean, is this not all metaphor? > > [Krimel] > Is it all metaphor? I think not all but a lot of it is and Evolution is > among the best we have. > > > > 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/ > 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/
