Reciprocating Bill
Posts: 4265
Joined: Oct. 2006
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Uncommonly Denyse is a precious resource. Remarking upon John Horgan's ten year old "The End of Science," she first quotes Horgan:
"Evolutionary biology reminds us that we are animals, shaped by natural selection not for discovering deep truths of nature but for breeding."
She remarks,
| Quote | | Huh? First off, anyone surveying the science-minded Western world's birth rates will certainly not think that Horgan's proposition is self-evidently true. As agnostic Australian philosopher David Stove has shown in Darwinian Fairytales (1995), most societies have encouraged citizens to breed. Where they don't (as ours doesn't), we see little evidence of any inner drive to breed shaped by natural selection. But we always see plenty of evidence of people wanting to discover deep truths, whether these truths are to be found legitimately in science, faith, or public service or illegitimately in drugs, sex, or power. |
Uh, Denyse, I hate to break this to you, but...Oh, never mind.
This paragraph can be improved considerably by moving the first word from beginning to end:
| Quote | | First off, anyone surveying the science-minded Western world's birth rates will certainly not think that Horgan's proposition is self-evidently true. As agnostic Australian philosopher David Stove has shown in Darwinian Fairytales (1995), most societies have encouraged citizens to breed. Where they don't (as ours doesn't), we see little evidence of any inner drive to breed shaped by natural selection. But we always see plenty of evidence of people wanting to discover deep truths, whether these truths are to be found legitimately in science, faith, or public service or illegitimately in drugs, sex, or power. Huh? |
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Myth: Something that never was true, and always will be.
"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
- David Foster Wallace
"Here’s a clue. Snarky banalities are not a substitute for saying something intelligent. Write that down."
- Barry Arrington
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