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From: spaceboy@indirect.com (s p a c e b o y)
Subject: Re: Computers--Next stage in evolution? Hmmmmmm.....
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Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 13:33:07 GMT
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Wombat Love (gorgonne@u.washington.edu) wrote:
: >: Demetrius L. Davis (davisd@pleiades.cs.rpi.edu) wrote:


: >: yet through this complex chain of 
: >: evolutionary selections and survivals, here we are on top.
: 					  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: 	

: 	whoa.  Pardon my interjection, but could someone justify 
: that statement for me?
: 	Becuase humans (it seems) are the most "complex" forms of life 
: extant, does it necessarily follow that they are the most advanced or 
: successful?
: 	This seems to be a fairly naive, anthropocentric standpoint.

: 			-Josh

Naive?  Perhaps a little general in scope but hardly naive I think.  
As far as our ecosystem is concerned we have wholly overrun the bounds in 
which we need to simply "survive".  Advanced?  Disregarding "complexity" 
as a guage for determining "advancement" I cite accomplishment as a more 
suitable guage.  Do we measure the scale of our civilization? Yes daily.  
Yes it seems anthropocentric to say "here we are on top" yet can one 
arrive at that conclusion after observing all life on many scales 
simultaneously?  Sure.  I'm sorry if that statement sounds arrogant, 
however I knew by stating it that way I was only in danger of offending 
others of my species.  "On top" meant simply that we have practically 
turned this planet into a figment of what it once was and I cite the 
impact of our actions as my main reasoning.  This is not to say that being 
"On top" is a favorable position.  I would reason that as an innocent 
bystander one could conclude that humans as a species had reached a more 
advanced stage than other species of Earth.  And yes advanced CAN be 
measured a number of ways so its meaning is vague in this context, but 
applyable nevertheless.  In order to prove me arrogant  we need a 
concrete definition of advancement.

I think there are a few logical clues to determine "advancement".  Order 
from Chaos is one that comes to mind.  Pick yours I'll pick mine. 

s p a c e b o y @ i n d i r e c t . c o m

