Robin
Posts: 1431 Joined: Sep. 2009
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Actually, I kind of like this question:
Quote | Q2: If we hold that success of progeny is the only significant measure of the success of evolution in any particular species unit, and thoughts and beliefs are evolution-generated features, why argue about whether or not any belief or thought is true, when what matters is only if the biological entity with those beliefs produces more successful progeny than those with different beliefs? |
There's nothing in principle wrong with this perspective, except that evolution focuses more on groups of a species members and all their offspring, rather than a single individual's offspring. Of course, your question presumes that there would be no correlation between "true" beliefs and thoughts and the success of offspring, which actually has been studied and found to be quite strong actually. The problem, William, is that you appear to be completely unaware of how long it takes for erroneous thoughts and beliefs to get weeded out of the human population and you seem to imply that it isn't actually occurring. You might want to take a look at the history of given beliefs and chart how long they lasted and whether they are still around. You might be surprised to find out that humans have been shedding beliefs and relying more and more on evidence-based knowledge over the course of our history and we are, by and large, becoming more secular over time.
ETA: Oh and William - your EQ is actually 1 or maybe two (if you have some really unique allele or more). The reason? Unless all of your children and their children are only having offspring from sex with each other and are never leaving your side, your particular set of genes and nurturing that have lead to you particular delusions are going to be diluted by your offspring's spouse's genes and outside influences. And their offspring's genetic disposition to fallacious thinking will also be diluted and so on. After about four or so generations, your particular brand of faulty thinking will all but be a lost characteristic.
Edited by Robin on Feb. 11 2013,13:28
-------------- we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo
The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis
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