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Flame » in reply to A thought experiment from Peter Singer

Re: Darwinism
ER — (archived)

Rain forests and coral reefs do not have a purpose. Human societies do: the flourishing of their inhabitants. The ruthless efficiency of natural systems is appealing to the predator in all of us, but most of us are primarily herbivores, and lets face it, all beasts are parasitic on plants, and predators are the most parasitic of of all. A world that appeals to predators is going to be one that favors predators, or those fools who fancy themselves predators because they cannot see the debt they owe to their community.

Likewise, the tended farm or garden is not a valid alternative metaphor for human society any more than the wilderness is, because farms and gardens give up in diversity and robustness what they gain in productivity. They have a purpose, but one purpose only; to produce a simple commodity as efficiently as possible.

Diversity and robustness are the true purpose of human society, along with meeting human needs. Any society that does not meet human needs, both physical and spiritual, is a failure. In this respect both of these models fail us as metaphors and as models. In short, farms and forests have nothing to do with human societies, and we are not forced to choose between one or the other in order to build our communities.

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