From: "Christopher B. Wright" <cwbrenn-AT-ibm.net>
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 08:11:17 -0500 (EST)
Subject: re: baby food


On Tue, 02 Feb 1999 20:00:16 -0800, Jonathan Kratter wrote:


> >Survival of the fittest +requires+ the elimination of those who are of
> >lesser ability, ubermensch.
> 
> No, actually, the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest says that
> those who are NOT fit will not survive... it does not say that WE should
> ELIMINATE those who we feel are unfit... there's a large difference there...
> 

Actually, Darwinian theory just says that the entities who have the
best survival tools/traits have a better _chance_ of surviving than the
entities who don't, making it more _likely_ that they will reproduce
and carry on the species, etc.

Darwin never said anything about an entity killing off another entity
just to get a leg up. As far as I know, this whole "survival of the
fittest" is an inaccurate distillation of his theories on evolution,
just as the idea that we descended from apes is an inaccurate
distillation of his theories on evolution.


Christopher B. Wright, Team OS/2 (cwbrenn-AT-ibm.net)
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
	- Edward Young