urth Digest, Vol 26, Issue 23

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 20 Oct 2006, 17:29 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 10:29:19 -0700
Subject: (urth) urth Digest, Vol 26, Issue 23
In-Reply-To: <001801c6f43e$afabcf20$6403404a@VALUED664B84C7>
References: <mailman.1.1161334338.747.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
	<001801c6f43e$afabcf20$6403404a@VALUED664B84C7>
Message-ID: <1f7617370610201029y108c685yfd04a95637704871 at mail.gmail.com>

On 10/20/06, Joe Smulkstis <jismulkstis at nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Adam Thornton is exactly right when he points out "Chivalry *is* biology".
> This ethic may have made sense when we needed to increase the
> number of villagers or be eaten by wolves, but with 6.5 billion people
> in the world and a human-induced mass extinction being the current
> situation, maximizing our numbers is no longer a desirable outcome.

Nonetheless, to the extent that "women and children first" is an
evolved behavioral tendency ... and I have some anecdotal evidence
(from, among other things, the '89 Loma Prieta 'quake) that suggests
to me that it really is ... the fact that we're overpopulated isn't going
to change that. Each successful gene in the genome has been
selected over billions of years to maximize its own replication.

Fortunately, as brilliant biologist and idiot philosopher Richard
Dawkins has pointed out, we are emphatically not the slaves of
our genes. We prove that every time we use any form of birth
control (including voluntary abstinence).

> "The more I know people, the more I like animals".

It was "The more I know of men, the more I like my cat."
Voltaire.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open
sewer and die.
  - Mel Brooks

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