Subject:
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Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 2 Nov 2001 12:10:27 GMT
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Viewed:
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846 times
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Ross Crawford wrote:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Tom Stangl writes:
> > Ross Crawford wrote:
> >
> > > > This is an interesting point. It is a generaisation, but in the UK low
> > > > income families tend to have more kids than higher earners. Many couples
> > > > (married or otherwsie) decide to have only one or no kids at all. If we
> > > > assume (again a generisation) that low income familes have lower levels of
> > > > intelligence (measured by lower levels of educational attainment) is our
> > > > gene pool geing skewed the wrong way?
> > >
> > > Is there a "wrong way"?
> >
> > I would think that most people with at least middling intelligence would tend • to
> > agree that decreasing the overall intelligence level of our species is the • "wrong
> > way".
>
> That may be so, but I would think that most people who have a middling
> understanding of evolution would agree that intelligence has little (if any)
> effect on it.
I dispute that. While there will always be people on the far edges of the bell
curve no matter what the scale of the curve, I would tend to believe that having
that curve shifted UP would increase the chance of our species surviving longer,
simply because we can't rely on a few supergeniuses to save our butts. Having the
curve higher increases the chance of our species solving all of its current and
future problems, IMO.
> > Do you have a reason to think that decreasing our species intelligence is the • right
> > way to go?
>
> No.
>
> Read the question again. I was questioning whether or not the notion of right &
> wrong[1] can be applied to evolution, I made no comment whether or not
> decreasing intelligence was right or wrong[1].
>
> IMO, intelligence may help us overcome various individual events[2], but makes
> little (if any) difference to the overall evolution of a species.
>
> ROSCO
>
> [1] as applied to the way our gene pool may be skewed
> [2] which may range from milliseconds to several generations, but that's still
> a needle in the haystack of evolution
#2 is more important than you think, IMO. Having our species intelligence level
increase gives us a better chance of solving problems that may wipe us out. If
we're wiped out, we can't evolve further, now, can we?
I think we've reached the point in the last few decades where those milliseconds
can easily decide whether we still exist or not in the future, so while the time is
insignificant compared to our total time of existence to date, it is far from
insignificant as to the effect on our future evolution.
--
| Tom Stangl, iPlanet Web Server Technical Support
| Sun Microsystems Customer Service
| iPlanet Support - http://www.iplanet.com/support/
| Please do not associate my personal views with my employer
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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| (...) <snappy rejoinder> I think it's got a lot more to do with conscience than brains. It's because we're the smartest/most technological species that we're in a position to wipe ourselves out (see crechebaby thread for "extinction" scenario). (...) (23 years ago, 2-Nov-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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| (...) of (...) tend (...) bell (...) having (...) longer, (...) the (...) and (...) the (...) right & (...) makes (...) still (...) level (...) I don't agree with this. You're thinking cataclysmic events like a meteorite hit. I think it's more (...) (23 years ago, 2-Nov-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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| (...) to (...) "wrong (...) That may be so, but I would think that most people who have a middling understanding of evolution would agree that intelligence has little (if any) effect on it. (...) right (...) No. Read the question again. I was (...) (23 years ago, 29-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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