[Platt] "What the organism learns about its environment can be expressed in the simple phrase, 'It's better here' or 'It's not so good here.' " Konrad Lorenz, zoologist and Noble Prize winner -- obviously someone of "low powers of discernment."
Yeah, right. [Case] Where is this quote pulled from? Lorenz did write several popular works including one called "Man Meets Dog". He may have been dumbing down to his audience. Because yes it is "like" that just are one could say, "you know if I were an amoeba and you dropped some vinegar near me I would try to move away." Anthropomorphism as metaphor is one thing, building it into your metaphysics is something else. Lorenz is a strange choice for you, Platt. It is interesting that you are a fan of his. He was a member of the Nazi party, was appointed to a university chair under the Nazis. In 1938 wrote, "I'm able to say that my whole scientific work is devoted to the ideas of the National Socialists." He later recanted this position at the Nobel Prize ceremony in 1973 of course, but in later years he was a big supporter of the Austrian Green Party. Lorenz was one of the founders of the field of ethology which aims to place the activities of individuals and groups into the broader contexts of their environments. He is noted for his efforts to should the purely genetic basis for certain specific behaviors for example he demonstrated the phenomenon of imprinting in baby geese. Nazi tree huggers are indeed a rare breed. Thanks for making my point yet again. 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/
