Saturday, February 17, 2007

Darwinism 204

Those who doubt Darwinian theory are those who would likely have met their ends, should our magnanimous society not have intervened.

Discuss.

17 comments:

Dawn Coyote said...

Bullshit

If we’re talking survival of the fittest, psychological hardiness is not determined by one’s dedication to rationality. A certain amount of irrationality is adaptive, mitigates depression, and helps people to remain hopeful in seemingly hopeless circumstances. Here’s some research that shows that people who attend church live longer.

blah blah blah altruistic behaviour, social cohesion—I don’t know of any Darwinist communities that I could elect belong to who will feed my kids if I get sick. Darwin himself alludes to social cohesion in his account of own journey to agnosticism.

I’m an atheist, for the record, who’s fucking sick to death of rationalist evangelicals. Get off the fucking pulpit, people, or have the decency to put on a collar.

Thy Goddess said...

I am the answer:

A Darwinist Goddess.

Come to my temple. I have a collection of high quality leather collars in fashionable colors.

...and matching whips.

TenaciousK said...

ThyGoddess: the natural selection.

Thy Goddess said...

Naturally!

Obviously, the Network Feed ---> thinks so.

Seriously , what's up with that?

TenaciousK said...

Got me. I started using feedbite a little while ago, and I've been getting a strange mixture of the old along with the new this past few days, so I'm guessing maybe a problem there.

I'm sure Ender would be a better person to ask - this is all pretty new to me.

TenaciousK said...

Oh, my bad. Clearly, your blog is the only interesting place to be these days.

So, what else is new?

Thy Goddess said...

True dat, true dat.

;)

topazz said...

If I may be so bold as to offer that aside from your divine loveliness, and those who come to worship you in general (those site numbers cannot be underestimated but of course!) - it may have gotten started with my comment about the mysterious looking nether regions of your recent cover update.

Nice apple, by the way - I like.

Thy Goddess said...

Umm...if you say so.

But you don't know what's behind the apple, do you?

Mysterious stuff.

Archaeopteryx said...

This is something I've given a lot of thought to lately (the fitness implications of religion, not the nether regions of a Goddess--okay, that too). Sam Harris makes a nice argument that religion is very bad for society in general, but of course, evolution is all about individual fitness, and, at least in the past, there were tangible fitness benefits for being part of an extended group. We may be getting close to the point, however, that belief in the irrational lowers fitness. See today's headlines for details.

Thy Goddess said...

Fitness implications of religion+ nether regions of a Goddess=Darwin's Apple!

TenaciousK said...

Hmmm. Darwin's apple might not improve survivability, but at some point you've got to ask yourself - if not this, then what's the point?

So said the Praying Mantis, anyway (though I understand if she's well-fed beforehand, my odds of surviving the encounter improve).

Which begs the question - TG, do you like Italian?

Thy Goddess said...

Hah.

I am diversified (men and cuisine).

Italian is overrated (men and cuisine).

I like sushi.

TenaciousK said...

Hmmm. I'm thinking the critical (safety) issue is satiety.

How about large chunks of meat?

Thy Goddess said...

30 rolls of sushi.

Perfectly satieted (me).

Perfectly safe (you).

PS: Distracted again?

TenaciousK said...

[Sigh...] Astute as always.

[Turning my head towards the calling grindstone]

Dawn Coyote said...

Hi Arch! I admit I'm sometimes militant in my irreligiousity, but Dawkins strikes me as a bit cracked, and as for Harris, I have a hard time assigning any credibility to a person who could make the claim that "most Muslims are utterly deranged by their religious faith." It's just not rational.

I know we're insulated from rabidly faithful here in Canada, but I don't imagine the approach being taken by Dawkins and Harris is likely to win any converts.

Who am I to disabuse someone of the thing that gives them comfort? And if atheism is the renunciation of every supernatural crutch, what about the belief in the self?

Smug proselytizing is annoying no matter which team's colours it's wearing. To my eye, the atheist evangelicals seem to be doing the same thing the believers are doing: whistling past the graveyard.