Gregg R Thomas

Simon Paynton wrote:
’m not a parent.  According to laboratory experiments, they develop the skills by around the age of 3.  I should have been more precise.  The point is they don’t need to be taught, they do things like respect commitments and help those in need (much of the time) automatically.  That in turn looks like the best coopera…

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_Robert_ wrote:
Yes, but can you think of any biological characteristic including the behavior of living things that does not ultimately stem from our genetic composition?

Well, you could say that all behaviour is biological, because it’s carried out by human beings with biological bodies.  I think it’s more relevant to look at the reasons for…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
Unfortunately, even though many antivaxers might erase themselves during a pandemic, the ties to a representative genotype are so complicated that the behavior will not become a phenotype in the normal sense.

I think it’s a case of culturally-induced suicide, rather than maladaptive genes.

Unseen wrote:
Cooperation has to be taught through positive and negative reinforcement.

Are you actually a parent, Simon?

I’m not a parent.  According to laboratory experiments, they develop the skills by around the age of 3.  I should have been more precise.  The point is they don’t need to be taught, they do things like respect commitments an…[Read more]

I was being facetious with that Vegas over under. Silly even.

Phew, glad to know that because They’re gonna put it down, on the Vegas strip

Simon Paynton wrote:
There are all kinds of people who shouldn’t be here if Mother Nature had anything to do with it. For humans, it’s not so much survival of the fittest, it’s the survival of the most cooperative. That’s why young children are born knowing how to cooperate.

If they are “born knowing how to cooperate,” why don’t they. Childre…[Read more]

There are all kinds of people who shouldn’t be here if Mother Nature had anything to do with it.  For humans, it’s not so much survival of the fittest, it’s the survival of the most cooperative.  That’s why young children are born knowing how to cooperate.

_Robert_ wrote:
In many cases the least-fittest humans can propagate as much as anyone.

Yes, millions of years of evolution have resulted in … me.  How did that happen?

I think we’re extremely strongly shaped by evolution, biologically and psychologically.  That’s both a curse and a benefit.  How long before we wipe ourselves out?

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Ancient human evolution is “unparalleled” in nature.

I too have read it was climate change that drove the evolution of new human species, because it opened up new niches.  Every new niche means a new species.  But

the pattern in Homo species suggests that technology played a far greater role in speci…

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So long as he walks the talk 🙂

Thanks Reg!

I have been to some of his talks over the years. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to speak with him on my own for about 10 minutes once. We discussed the nature of religious belief and the benefits to society of understanding Evolution, which means educating the “primate change deniers”.  It was after this talk.

No death bed conv…[Read more]

Have a great week!

Some quotes from Daniel Dennett:

I am confident that those who believe in belief are wrong. That is, we no more need to preserve the myth of God in order to preserve a just and stable society than we needed to cling to the Gold Standard to keep our currency sound. It was a useful crutch, but we’ve outgrown it. Denmark,…[Read more]