Flexibility and Adaptive Gaps

• The Adaptive Gap and the Future of Civilization by Mike Hall, 7/3/98
  
  

I, too, have paused on this provocative note, to see what others (e.g. Brian Robinson) might say. I guess there are not clear answers that we can see. That does not mean the issues are unimportant.

The idea that our biology and our culture are now in some form of "mismatch", or "gap", deserves serious consideration. Unfortunately, it may be our biology that prevents that very consideration. To the extent that is true, we are in trouble.

I confess that the recent airing of the Clinton tapes, and most particularly the reactions of character assination that these tapes permitted, provide frightening comparisons to baboon troups, rodents, and insects. The hunger for power and short-term gains, combined with total moral hypocricy, does not present a happy or hopeful stage. The absences in evolution of compassion, appreciation for human fraility, need to focus upon long-term (major) issues.....just a short list of adaptive gaps that can and should cause major concern.

The potentially good news is that each species, including our own, is unique. The bad news is that our very uniqueness may be precisely what is propelling us to an early destruction. The hopeful news is that we do indeed have sufficient resources, as part of our biological if not present cultural heritage, that we can do something about this.

Murder and character assassination are, however, easier routes than reflection, compassion, and change. Quick solutions to short-term problems (e.g. cut those trees and make those kids for today's $$s) too easily obliterate fuller projections into a necessarily limited future. To the extent that is true, Mike's pessimissm is warranted. Sad.

[I am not speaking out of arrogance here: I have both cut trees and made kids.]

John

• Paul Davies: Are We Alone? by Brian Robinson, 9/24/98
  • Alien Math by John Fentress, 9/27/98
  • Nobody wants to be alone... by bill, 10/30/98
• R C Lewontin: Grounds for Hope? Or delusion? by Brian Robinson, 9/27/98
  • HOPE! by John Fentress, 9/27/98
    • Dawkins & Gould: London Observer by Brian Robinson, 9/29/98
    • D&G Controversy by John Fentress, 9/30/98
      • Turf Battles by Mike Hall, 10/1/98
        • Check by John Fentress, 10/4/98
          • The check is in the mail by Mike Hall, 10/9/98
  • R C Lewontin and Consciousness by Mike Hall, 10/9/98
    • Uncheck by John Fentress, 10/10/98