Blish's "Conscience" vs. Wolfe's "Fifth Head"

Malcolm · 03 Jan 2006, 00:35 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2006.mbox

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From: "Malcolm" <regniztar at btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: Blish's "Conscience" vs. Wolfe's "Fifth Head"
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 00:35:45 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <dpcgt0$qu2$6 at nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <1135781723.546189.19520 at g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <1136128612.366330.128000 at f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> <Xns973F5BACDAC2Bidtoken at 204.153.244.170>

"Omixochitl" <omixochitl2002 at yahoo.com> wrote
> From what I've heard, the typical welfare mom actually has about as many
> kids as the typical middle-class educated couple has (in both cases, the
> ones who have 7 or 8 instead of 1 or 2 are atypical).  Perhaps you're
> confusing the typical welfare mom with the typical housewife of a
> subsistence farmer?
>
You're probably right.
Welfare moms are trotted out in discussions of "evolutionary morality" - the 
idea that there is an ethical imperative to be adaptively successful.

The point is that all evolution cares about is how many genes you get into 
the (grandchildrens') generation. It doesn't care whether you do that by 
exterminating inferior races, doing company accounts, or cashing welfare 
cheques.

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