From: Reed Konsler (rkonsler@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 30 May 2003 - 03:49:23 GMT
Richard:
>The unforeseen spandrel of this adaptation was the memetic big bang. With
>the advent of language, big brains filled up with memes that were not
>necessarily related to genetic fitness. Genetic adaptation is working
slowly
>in the background to counter this tendency but right now college education
>is lowering the genetic fitness of the lineages that are fortunate enough
to
>go.
Keith:
"True till the next crunch comes along. Then wealth will again be a large
factor in who survives."
Wishful thinking.
Wealth requires an infrastructure and stable economy to support it. A
billon dollars won't mean anything come the next crunch. If it truely is
*survival* of, say a tenth of the species, do you think the violent and
hungry will accept an ATM?
What keeps a person from taking what they want from you is fear of reprisal.
Are you strong enough to defend what you have? Do you have enough friends
and family within a few miles, and do you trust them enough, to engage in
reasonable collective defense?
Weath and power are not objects, but processes. The moment circumstances
change they evaporate. Which is why they call them "revolutions", I think.
Best,
Reed
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