RE: Addy Pross and the General Theory of Evolution
September 23, 2014 at 4:19 pm
(This post was last modified: September 23, 2014 at 4:27 pm by Anomalocaris.)
Nothing strikes me about these ideas. If one takes off the life-centric tinted glasses imposed in no small part by centuries of Christian bullshit, then the idea that the most complex life and the simplest minerals are just two ends of a seamless continuum of chemical forms upon which evolutions acts on every point is as natural and as clear as if one were to say most complex life and the simplest minerals are just two ends of a seamless continuum of objects upon which gravity acts.
Some changes moves an occupant towards the complex life end, some drive occupants towards the mineral end, some are driven to mill around near the same spot.
Which point on this spectrum we define as line of separation between life and mineral is essentially arbitrary. There is no spark of life. There is only various potential to spark a warm and fuzzy feeling in egotistical human brains. There is only a egotistical human tendency to view humans as special and therefore anything sharing some particularly prized traits of humans as being also special, if to a lesser degree. Evolution driving things towards the life end occurs on the mineral side of any dividing line. Evolution doesn't care whether what it is acting on is close to humans or not, and whether we classify what it is acting upon as being on the right or the wrong side of the arbitrary line of demarcation between life and mineral.
Some changes moves an occupant towards the complex life end, some drive occupants towards the mineral end, some are driven to mill around near the same spot.
Which point on this spectrum we define as line of separation between life and mineral is essentially arbitrary. There is no spark of life. There is only various potential to spark a warm and fuzzy feeling in egotistical human brains. There is only a egotistical human tendency to view humans as special and therefore anything sharing some particularly prized traits of humans as being also special, if to a lesser degree. Evolution driving things towards the life end occurs on the mineral side of any dividing line. Evolution doesn't care whether what it is acting on is close to humans or not, and whether we classify what it is acting upon as being on the right or the wrong side of the arbitrary line of demarcation between life and mineral.
