From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Jun 17 2003 - 11:37:25 MDT
Kevin Freels wrote:
>lol! Thanks for saying what I was going to say. Now I don't have to type it!
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Damien Broderick" <damienb@unimelb.edu.au>
>To: <extropians@extropy.org>
>Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 10:49 PM
>Subject: irritable evolution syndrome
>
>...
>
>>The analogy should surely be: `if the evolutionary "program" of life on
>>earth were re-run using different starting conditions, or with additional
>>factors introduced and other deleted, X might not evolve again.' But I
>>suppose most people don't grok `program' even in this simple sense, and
>>somehow *do* grasp what's meant, even though the analogy makes no sense at
>>all. Weird, the human mind. Why, if the tape were replayed, I bet we'd end
>>up with a mind that--
>>
>>Damien Broderick
>>
I believe that Gould was actually asserting that the program couldn't be
expected to produce intelligent life even if the initial starting
conditions were the same. This has always seemed a narrow viewpoint to
me. It wouldn't produce Homo Sapiens, or even Mamalia, but this doesn't
imply that it wouldn't produce intelligence, as he always seems to infer.
Other than that, I rather agree with his conclusions. History is
contingent. And evolution is history writ large.
Still, one must admit that the jury is still out. We don't know what
caused multi-cellular life to suddenly appear, e.g., and without knowing
that, how can we predict the sequela.
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