6 replies to this topic

[Richard Leis]

Over at Digg.com is a link to an article about Ray Kurzweil's newest book. The comments are some of the most uninformed I have ever come across. Certainly this is no surprise, but it makes me angry. Why should people who obviously know nothing about the concepts in discussion comment at all? Research first, then react!

For example, here are some of the diggers' ideas about evolution:

"There's no human evolution anymore. If there were, we wouldn't have genetic diseases, as people who did would have not been able to survive. Society makes sure that every last retard, myopic, and weakling survive."

"too bad evolution is a stupid thing. we aren't evolving now, because we never were evolving."

"evolution is when ALL of a species has the same mutation. this happens by ALL of the ones dying that dont. so it happens in very small groups near extinction, or by mass extinction."

"When I had my wisdom teeth taken out a couple years ago I started thinking about evolution and natural selection. The more advances we have in medical science the less (or less quickly) humans will evolve."

"Every recorded "evolution" or mutation has been a major downgrade to whatever specie it affected."

What in the hell are they talking about? As for some of the ideas about physical immortality:

"I think this is stupid, plus who wants to live forever? I certainly don't."

"Nobody likes life anymore. Why would you try to lengthen it?"

[Mind]

Even the comments that were trying to be funny, were just plain ill-informed and ignorant. I am not sure who reads Digg and posts the comments, but they sure are not up with the times.

[Richard Leis]

The number of people not up with the times seems at times to be too many.

[justinb]

The number of people not up with the times seems at times to be too many.

Oh, snap! [tung]

[th3hegem0n]

Actually, uh, humans are effectively out of the scope of evolution at the species level at this point.

The survival of the fittest doesn't really apply very much at all. People that are complete idiots, and with absolutely no chance of survival in any traditional environment are copulating more than the brilliant people, who tend to pay for the stupid people to be kept alive.

[th3hegem0n]

"There's no human evolution anymore. If there were, we wouldn't have genetic diseases, as people who did would have not been able to survive. Society makes sure that every last retard, myopic, and weakling survive."

What is it that you disagree with about that statement?

[signifier]

Evolution is the differential survival of replicating entities. Even if society has retarded evolution, to say that there is no human evolution anymore is absurd. So far, nobody survives, society or not. What matters in evolutionary terms is survival to reproduce. People with progeria do not survive to reproduce. Many other diseases either kill people before they can reproduce or make them infertile, no matter what society has done or is doing right now. So evolution still occurs.

Also, remember that human "society" is a very recent thing. Most of our evolutionary past has been spent in a world entirely different from the one we happen to find ourselves in today, with drug companies and genetics counselors and pedigrees and biotechnology. The idea that all genetic diseases would have been pruned out by natural selection over the last ten thousand years if it were not for society is absolutely ridiculous. Natural selection on such a large scale operates on geological time, not human timeframes.

Immortality, smarter-than-human AI, molecular nanotechnology, etc. are all topics far outside our ordinary daily experience; it is reasonable that most people would react this way. Modern U.S. humans are inundated with thinking they know "how the world works (and will work), man," and sporting chic opinions like thinking life sucks and that death is poetic.