Re: Writing from the POV of older people than one's self

--
forrest_m wrote:
And juggling the relative values of those variables
makes a big difference in how weak. I agree with your
point, I'm just sensitive on the issue. Evolution as a
concept has a fractal-like ablility to work as an
analogy when discussing a whole host of things besides
gene selection. It makes sense, in a loose way, to
talk about evolution of cultures, civilizations,
social ideas, economies and the like.

The natural selection metaphor is dangerous when applied
outside its proper domain: individual selection and
reproductive success. When applied to civilizations
etc, the resulting errors are apt to lead to enormous
crimes. You wind up reifying, treating the race, the
nation, the class, whatever, as a single individual,
which inevitably leads to the conclusion that actual
individuals should be subordinated to this super
individual, the demand for unrealistic and self
destructive altruism to be directed at strangers, and to
the conclusion that certain other groups have got to go.

Notoriously, this idea has had bad consequences when
applied to civilizations and races. When applied to
economies, it has had consequences that were somewhat
less lethal, but nonetheless destructive. This idea,
applied to economics, is apt to lead one to fascist
ideas about resources - that market allocation of
resources is unjust and destructive, that trade is war,
resulting in the errors of dirigiste nationally and
imperialism internationally.

--digsig
James A. Donald
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kgXkBeznp6mX1xUcnSFNE8Dr3Hg9oDCawj7lq+vo
4yxLL+Vb+kjSYUO8wUKvy9UV8z4eQ8ZRvgD4xcdAa

.

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