On 12/12/2012 2:05 PM, Chris Austin-Lane wrote:
So the US of 1792 or changed relatively continuously, according to the initial rules, into the current US, so it can't be any better as a system than what we have now, right?
Wrong; the degenerate condition we have now is worse than the republic it started out as. But this:
It was a republic that allowed women to vote, abolished slavery, welcomed wave after wave of ethnic immigration, ...
is true enough: IOW, there is 'no fixed dharma' that will work for all times and not degenerate. That is just what I said: there IS NO 'solution' to the perfect governance of humans in an overpopulated technological civilization.
Also, just for the record, devolving is not a scientific term - evolution posits that the organisms adapt to whatever environment they are reproducing in - there's no "teleology" - no better or worse, it's just the mechanism of life
There is nothing wrong with the word devolving, which I used instead of 'dysgenic', knowing that use of /that/ term would lead to a lot of explanations that you would likely never accept if you DID understand. So, while it is true "there's no teleology" it is also true that natural selection has been relaxed, allowing the survival and procreation of people too stupid, improvident, or genetically degenerate to survive in a state of nature. At the same time our genome is being adversely affected by a vast number of mutagenic and teratogenic chemicals. While there is no 'goal' for evolution, the current process is dysgenic; believe it or not as you wish.
Also, it is starting to turn out that genes aren't as simple as it first appeared - they really are more of a platform for organisms, a computing engine that can respond to the environment and life of the organism in complex (and not yet known) ways.
You are probably referring to epigenetics, which is the current great hope of genetic denialists, but epigenetics IS genetics. The computing analogy is too flawed to be useful for discussion, let alone argument.
I am still a bit saddened at your expectations of anarchy,
I understand that: My spring is too */cold /*For most to savor, however clear*/ /* Ahhh, just right for me.
