(May 28, 2015 at 9:50 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: As I have pointed out in a recent post, evolution is based on survival of the fittest.
Stalin, Mao, Putin...these men have clawed their way to the top. Life is very good for them at the expense of others. Their minions are rewarded for doing their bidding including killing, torturing, etc. at the strong man's command.
Too graphic? Try politics. Or any large corporation. The same principles may be observed.
So, have we really evolved to the point that we are no longer selfish and self-centered - putting our interests above others when it suits our purposes?
First of all that organisms evolve is a fact. Organisms have and do evolve. The Theory of Natural Selection, is a theory about what drives evolution, and it is not what you think it is. First of all the fittest means the fittest to reproduce viable offspring who also reproduce, or to foster the reproduction of those with very similar genes to yours. Generally speaking being a dictator or violent criminal is not a good way to go about that.
Any idea how many children Stalin had? Four, not bad at all but hardly phenominal, but you see they mostly committed suicide before reproducing so they don't count. In the evolutionary stakes Stalin was a failure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin How about Mao? He did rather better, ten children, but only twelve grandchildren. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong#Children Putin had two, possibly three children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin#Family These dictators tend be be poor fathers.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.