Science + Politics = ?

Egg · Post by **Egg** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:52 am

As much as I dislike pseudoscience, sociobio stuff is pretty cool. It's neat to think of things in an evolutionary sense and helps cope with a lot of the big political questions on the level of individual rhetoric and public rhetoric. Just gives a nice handle on things. I should read more of that stuff.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 6:50 am

Egg wrote: It's neat to think of things in an evolutionary sense and helps cope with a lot of the...

No it's not "neat" to arbitrarily ascribe specific biological processes in circumstances where they don't belong. That's just how Nazi Germany started...

Egg · Post by **Egg** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:17 am

I was under the impression that most of the evolutionary social sciences now took the smart stance that sociobiology isn't useful for determining social agendas. It's a way of analyzing past movements and influences rather than one for planning the future. I mean, eugenics only make sense if you want to breed single-purpose beasts of burden. The key in realistic evolution is diversity which allows for rapid adaptation in spans of punctuated equilibrium. Intent is not the cool part of evolution. Don't breed good traits because you don't know what weird trait might be good in the future kind of thing.

And as a tool for interpreting the world (rather than a tool to manipulate it), sociobiology is, scientifically speaking, neat.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:29 am

Egg wrote:I was under the impression that most of the evolutionary social sciences now took the smart stance that sociobiology isn't useful for determining social agendas. It's a way of analyzing past movements and influences rather than one for planning the future. I mean, eugenics only make sense if you want to breed single-purpose beasts of burden. The key in realistic evolution is diversity which allows for rapid adaptation in spans of punctuated equilibrium. Intent is not the cool part of evolution. Don't breed good traits because you don't know what weird trait might be good in the future kind of thing.

And as a tool for interpreting the world (rather than a tool to manipulate it), sociobiology is, scientifically speaking, neat.

Yeah! - well that's easy for you to say...