DOCSLIB.ORG

STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGY of HOMO SAPIENS and EVOLUTIONARY RISK of HIGH TECH Transdisciplinary Essay Edited by V.T.Cheshko, V.I.Glazko, G.Yu

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGY of HOMO SAPIENS and EVOLUTIONARY RISK of HIGH TECH Transdisciplinary Essay Edited by V.T.Cheshko, V.I.Glazko, G.Yu 1 2 3 STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGY OF HOMO SAPIENS AND EVOLUTIONARY RISK OF HIGH TECH Transdisciplinary essay Edited by V.T.Cheshko, V.I.Glazko, G.Yu. Kosovsky, A.S.Peredyadenko 2015 4 УДК 608.1=03(02)-039 ББК 28.703(65.5) ISBN 978-5-905742-88-0 © CheshkoV.T., Glazko V.I., Kosovsky G.Yu., Peredyadenko A.S. STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGY of HOMO SAPIENS and EVOLUTIONARY RISK of HIGH TECH. Transdisciplinary essay / V.T.Cheshko, V.I.Glazko, G.Yu Kosovsky, A.S.Peredyadenko; Ed. by V.T.Cheshko. M., 2015. 252 p. The co-evolutionary concept of Three-modal stable evolutionary strategy of Homo sapiens is developed. The concept based on the principle of evolutionary complementarity of anthropogenesis: value of evolutionary risk and evolutionary path of human evolution are defined by descriptive (evolutionary efficiency) and creative-teleological (evolutionary correctly) parameters simultaneously, that cannot be instrumental reduced to others ones. Resulting volume of both parameters define the trends of biological, social, cultural and techno-rationalistic human evolution by two gear mechanism ˗ gene-cultural co-evolution and techno- humanitarian balance. The resultant each of them can estimated by the ratio of socio-psychological predispositions of humanization/dehumanization in mentality. Explanatory model and methodology of evaluation of creatively teleological evolutionary risk component of NBIC technological complex is proposed. Integral part of the model is evolutionary semantics (time-varying semantic code, the compliance of the biological, socio-cultural and techno-rationalist adaptive modules of human stable evolutionary strategy). 5 CONTENT INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………..... ………5 1. CONCEPTUAL FIELD, EVOLUTIONARY FOUNDATIONS AND IDEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE THEORY OF STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES OF HOMO SAPIENS……………………………… ......... 15 2. GENESIS OF STABLE ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES OF HOMO SAPIENS……………………………………………………………... ......... 76 3. EVOLUTION RISKS: NATURE, ORGANIZATION ANDSTRUCTURE………………………………………………... … ..... 86 3.1. Evolutionary load and evolutionary risk………………………………98 3.2 Evolutionary efficiency ...................................................................... 108 3.3 Evolutionary correctness .................................................................... 110 3.4. Objective and subjective components of the evolutionary risk........... 116 4. EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTIVE ASPECTS OF POST-ACADEMIC SCIENCE………………………………… ....... 150 5. EVOLUTIONARY SEMANTICS OF TECHNO-HUMANITARIAN BALANCE AND DEVELOPMENTAL RISKS (CONTENT ANALYSIS OF WEB RESOURCES)……………………………………………. ....... 153 5.1 Materials and Methods ……………………………………………….151 5.2 Structure of BHDT-complex .............................................................. 158 5.3Prospects and risks of controlled evolution of human: the intentional structure of post-academic science (A.S.Peredyadenko) ........................... 167 5.4 The thematic structure of theoretical science and the predisposition of mass culture on technology-driven evolution(A.S.Peredyadenko) ............ 169 5.5 Mental predisposition of perception attributes of humanization and dehumanization as a factor of the evolutionary risk gene technology ....... 179 6. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………. ....... 205 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………..207 Bibliography……………………………………………………………. ……229 6 Abbreviations BHDT, BHDTK ˗ Biological and Humanitarian Disciplinary Technological Complex SESH˗ Stable Adaptive (Evolutionary) Strategy of Homo E ˗ Evolutionary Efficiency High Hume technologies of control and enhancement of the genetic, socio- cultural and cognitive codes that let to control of biological and sociocultural human evolution, i.e.to technology of rational evolution in applied to Homo sapiens HN˗ «human nature» complex of mental-psychological predispositions HU˗ «humanity» complex of mental-psychological predispositions K˗ Evolutionary Correctness NBIC˗ nano-bio-information-cognitive technology (technology of driven evolution) 7 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Anthropocene. Slavoj Zizek [1, p.327] In our struggle against its own vulnerability, we create new vulnerabilities and thus transforming the world transform themselves Mark Coeckelbergh [2, p. 87] The words of the philosopher-postmodernist cult of modern Western civilization, handed down in the epigraph, intuitively perceived as spiced with obvious irony, if not derision. The way it is. Anthropocene – not formalized unit of geological time scale, the geological epoch, characterized by the transformation of human activity in the primary factor in determining the direction and flow patterns of geological processes. The famous line that ends with «The Divine Comedy» by Dante Alighieri [Dante Alighieri. La Divina Comedia. Paradiso, Canto XXXIII] ─ «Love that moves the sun and light» (l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle) creates emotionally charged image of sensual evolving universe, which can be considered a brand of Western (Atlantic) civilization of the last millennium. The fundamental principle that the image becomes the prime mover, the substrate that is based on the synthesis of reason and faith, begets love, and that, in turn, determines the trajectory and the final goal of evolution of the cosmos. Only the accents in this triad (Will ─ Reason ─ Love). In the era of Dante in Love Will carried through reason. In the age of Enlightenment was the basis of everything impersonal, objective law. This socio-cultural transformation has reached its peak in terms of Darwin's theory. As a result, the confidence of Dante into a classical Kantian antinomy: «Evolution (Law of Nature and Reason) versus the Divine Will (and Love) moves the sun and the light?» As scientific and technological progress first fair was «Law and Mind driven by the sun and light» and then (with the advent of technology High Hume) ─ «laws of nature and is driven by the Will of sun and light». The scenario of the future course of evolution of the biosphere and man became a matter of personal choice and calculation. That is just the interpretation of the divine perfection hammered string Alighieri quietly disappeared. However, the human mind and Love, as it is known, to err or not see obvious facts. The world has entered an era Anthropocene. The term Anthropocene is in line with the concept of «noosphere» Vernadsky, Leroy, «pneumatosfere» Florensky etc. In all these cases, the original 8 intention of the genesis of these is the concepts of statement rationalization and technologizing current global evolution – its biological, geological and space components, not to mention the actual socio-anthropogenesis. However, differences still extremely important. Anthropocene is usually dated to the 17th century – the formation of an industrial society. In more advanced interpretation of this data is moved to the beginning of the Neolithic revolution [3, p. 835-836]. Thus, the concept of the noosphere and the Anthropocene are not equivalent. Noosphere implies a direct effect on the mind during the evolutionary process. Thus, the noosphere chronologically later stage Anthropocene. However, these significant differences between the two concepts are not exhausted. Offensive Noospheric era of thought of the author – Vladimir Vernadsky – diagnosed, so to speak, with the help of «socio-humanitarian syndrome» – a complex of symptoms related to the social and spiritual life (see: [4]).The latter include, for example, the elimination of war and the establishment of a world government, etc. The core, the backbone of the noosphere is a new feature of the mentality of human civilization, «the dictatorship of the Mind» as the root cause of the subsequent evolution. Thus, the origins lie in noospherization perfect, are the responsibility of not only natural, as the humanities. In our previous work, we have already mentioned that the concept of the noosphere Vernadsky in terms of the intellectual tradition has a «hybrid» origin. Equally, it was influenced by the ideas of Russian cosmists starting with Nikolai Fyodorov and theoretical understanding of accumulated empirical and scientific facts. Vernadsky and Tsiolkovsky, experienced in his youth influenced by the teachings of the founder of Russian cosmism, managed to reduce some of its ideas to scientist research and technological-innovation program, rationalizing the concept of Nikolai Fyodorov, made it acceptable to the technological mentality. The idea of the Anthropocene, owned by Eugene Stormer ecologist and Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen in 2000 [5], completes the process of rationalization of the irrational concept was originally seeking to overcome the hegemony of technocratic determinism. Offensive Anthropocene – it is not abstract, theoretical, let alone ideological and humanitarian problem. It is a matter of empirical verification, i.e. Search criteria (symptoms) of a new geochronological period clearly established purely empirically. Management of the evolutionary process, including in the least the man himself as, simultaneously, the object and the subject of manipulation transformations. This informs the term Anthropocene metaphorical sense by putting in another, without scientific terminology and emotionality metaphorical associative array, starting with Frankenstein and «Brave New World». This series has obvious signs anti-utopia, color negative perception of the image generated by them. Since then, the sequence of diagnostic signs of a new era once again split into technological and natural science (changing composition of the atmosphere,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sociocultural Evolution
    Sociocultural Evolution By Dr. Frank Elwell Sociocultural Evolution Sociocultural materialism is an avowedly evolutionary perspective. Sociocultural Evolution “Anthropologists have long recognized that in Broadest perspective cultural evolution has three main characteristics: Escalating energy budgets, increased productivity and accelerating population growth.” --Marvin Harris Sociocultural Evolution Great transitions in human societies, transitions that involve a qualitative shift in the mode of production, are an outgrowth of the intensification process. Evolutionary Process: Intensification depletion and pollution Further intensification depletion and pollution Evolutionary Process: The whole process results in either the collapse of the system or a shift to a new mode of production where the process begins again. Intensification Throughout history, the intensification of the forces of production have always been toward greater complexity because the process leads to the exploitation of less available, harder to reach sources of energy. Intensification Similarly, when environmental depletion is reached, the qualitative shift in the forces of production represents a move from a readily available source (say wood) to a less accessible source (coal, oil or nuclear fission). Intensification Over the course of social evolution, mankind has had to engage in more and more complicated processing and production techniques in order to draw energy out of the environment. Intensification When societies increase productivity, food becomes more available, thus more children are born and survive infancy. Intensification Increases in food invariably increase population growth, thus bringing population level up to the new environmental limits. Evolutionary Process: This increasing complexity of the mode of production, as well as the relatively large population that this new technology is able to sustain, has impact of the structure of sociocultural systems.
    [Show full text]
  • A Computational Model of Memetic Evolution: Optimizing Collective Intelligence Noah Welsh Clemson University, [email protected]
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 5-2014 A Computational Model of Memetic Evolution: Optimizing Collective Intelligence Noah Welsh Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Part of the Computer Sciences Commons, and the Educational Leadership Commons Recommended Citation Welsh, Noah, "A Computational Model of Memetic Evolution: Optimizing Collective Intelligence" (2014). All Dissertations. 1383. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/1383 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF MEMETIC EVOLUTION: OPTIMIZING COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate of Philosophy Educational Leadership by Noah H. Welsh May 2014 Accepted by: Russ Marion, Committee Co-Chair Joshua Summers, Committee Co-Chair Leslie Gonzales Jon Christiansen ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to create an adaptive agent based simulation modeling the processes of creative collaboration. This model aided in the development of a new evolutionary based framework through which education scholars, academics, and professionals in all disciplines and industries can work to optimize their ability to find creative solutions to complex problems. The basic premise follows that the process of idea exchange, parallels the role sexual reproduction in biological evolution and is essential to society’s collective ability to solve complex problems. The study outlined a set of assumptions used to develop a new theory of collective intelligence.
    [Show full text]
  • A Historical Database of Sociocultural Evolution
    Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History UC Riverside Peer Reviewed Title: A Historical Database of Sociocultural Evolution Journal Issue: Cliodynamics, 3(2) Author: Turchin, Peter, University of Connecticut Whitehouse, Harvey Francois, Pieter Slingerland, Edward Collard, Mark Publication Date: 2012 Publication Info: Cliodynamics, The Institute for Research on World-Systems, UC Riverside Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2v8119hf Acknowledgements: This research was supported by grants from the Evolution Institute (PT), from UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (HW, PT, and PF), and from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (ES and MC). We thank David Sloan Wilson, Douglas White, J.G. Manning, Joseph Henrich, Ara Norenzayan, Metin Cosgel, and Garrett Fagan for extensive discussions and comments on database design. Local Identifier: irows_cliodynamics_15770 Abstract: The origin of human ultrasociality—the ability to cooperate in huge groups of genetically unrelated individuals—has long interested evolutionary and social theorists, but there has been little systematic empirical research on the topic. The Historical Database of Sociocultural Evolution, which we introduce in this article, brings the available historical and archaeological data together in a way that will allow hypotheses concerning the origin of ultrasociality to be tested rigorously. In addition to describing the methodology informing the set-up of the database, our article introduces four hypotheses that we intend to test using the database. These hypotheses focus on the resource base, warfare, ritual, and religion, respectively. Ultimately the aim of our database is to eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction One of the Earliest and Most Influential Papers Applying Darwinian Theory to Human Cultural Evolution Was Donald T
    Evolution: The Darwinian Theory of Social Change, An Homage to Donald T. Campbell Peter J. Richerson University of California Davis Robert Boyd University of California Los Angeles Draft 2.2 Jan 2000 Ó Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd Published in Paradigms of Social Change: Modernization, Development, Transformation, Evolution, Edited by W. Schelkle, W.-H. Krauth, M. Kohli, and G. Ewarts. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2000. Introduction One of the earliest and most influential papers applying Darwinian theory to human cultural evolution was Donald T. Campbell’s paper “Variation and Selective Retention in Sociocultural Systems.” Campbell’s programmatic essay appeared as a chapter in a book entitled Social Change in Developing Areas (Barringer et al., 1965). It sketched a very ambitious project to apply Darwinian principles to the study of the evolution of human behavior. His essential theses were four. First, human sociocultural evolution should be studied using Darwinian methods. Human culture is information transmitted from person to person via teaching and imitation, much as genes are information transmitted from person to person in the course of reproduction. Like genes, sociocultural evolution has a pattern of descent with modification. Of course, the evolution of culture and social institutions differs in many ways from the evolution of genes. Perhaps most important, culture is a system for the inheritance of acquired variation. What individuals learn for themselves by hard effort others often imitate, typically at much less cost. Several researchers, beginning with Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman’s (1973) pioneering paper, have followed up this thread of Campbell’s essay by developing formal models of the cultural evolutionary processes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origins of Social Evolution: Language and Institutional Evolution Submitted to Anthropos, 2021
    The Origins of Social Evolution: Language and Institutional Evolution Submitted to Anthropos, 2021 Prologue This study hypothesizes the emergence of social evolution in northeast Africa, about 70,000 years ago. In it, I advance a new view of social evolution, a topic that has been long discussed without any decisive advance. I rely on the prior efforts of psychologist Donald T. Campbell, who applied Darwinian insights to social evolution, and John Maynard Smith, who began to set the emergence of language in the long-term context of biological evolution. As I see it, the combined emergence of syntactic language and collaborative groups generated a process of systematic social change. Spoken language itself and its speaking community, as they solidified, became the first social institutions. The main point of the essay is a deductive theory that formalizes the emergence of language in a group of youths, tracing the “institutional evolution” of their community in a model inspired by Darwinian logic. This essay, in a slightly different form, has been submitted to the journal Anthropos. Essay This essay hypothesizes the emergence of new levels of human group behavior, some 70,000 years ago in northeast Africa. Syntactic language emerged as young people gathered to play collaboratively in deepening their communication. The results of their conscious innovations brought new types of communication, collaborative acts of representation, and formalization of their collective intentionality through ritual. The discourses and actions of group members created language itself and the community of speakers as the initial cases of social institutions. The same innovations launched processes of institutional replication for the benefit of later generations.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a Theory of Positive Deviance
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1985 TOWARD A THEORY OF POSITIVE DEVIANCE DRUANN MARIA HECKERT University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation HECKERT, DRUANN MARIA, "TOWARD A THEORY OF POSITIVE DEVIANCE" (1985). Doctoral Dissertations. 1450. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1450 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this document, the quality of the reproduction is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help clarify markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure complete continuity. i i 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark, it is an indication of either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, duplicate copy, or copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed.
    [Show full text]
  • Sociocultural Evolution 1 Sociocultural Evolution
    Sociocultural evolution 1 Sociocultural evolution Sociocultural evolution(ism) is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and social evolution, describing how cultures and societies have changed over time. Note that "sociocultural evolution" is not an equivalent of "sociocultural development" (unified processes of differentiation and integration involving increases in sociocultural complexity), as sociocultural evolution also encompasses sociocultural transformations accompanied by decreases of complexity (degeneration) as well as ones not accompanied by any significant changes of sociocultural complexity (cladogenesis).[1] Thus, sociocultural evolution can be defined as "the process by which structural reorganization is affected through time, eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.... Evolutionism then becomes the scientific activity of finding nomothetic explanations for the occurrence of such structural changes".[2] Although such theories typically provide models for understanding the relationship between technologies, social structure, the values of a society, and how and why they change with time, they vary as to the extent to which they describe specific mechanisms of variation and social change. Historically, Europeans had tried to explain the meaning of "primitive" societies, with some arguing that primitive peoples had degenerated from a "barbarous" to an even lower "savage" state. These observers often saw European society as symbolizing the highest state of "civilization."[3] Over time, important commentators like Edward Burnett Tylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, Franz Boas, Leslie White, and Julian Steward elaborated on this thinking with theories from unilinear evolution to the "culture history" approach.[3] Sociocultural modeling[4] is an umbrella term for theories of cultural and social evolution, which aims to describe how cultures and societies have developed over time.
    [Show full text]
  • Culture and the Evolution Learning of Social
    ELSEVIER Culture and the Evolution of Social Learning Mark V. Flinn Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri Applications of modern evolutionary theory to human culture have generated several different theoretical approaches that challenge traditional anthropological perspectives. “Cultural selection” and “mind parasite” theories model culture as an independent evo- lutionary system because transmission of cultural traits via social learning is distinct from transmission of genes vla DNA replication. “Dual-inheritance” and “co-evolution” theories model culture as an intermediary evolutionary process that involves informa- tion from two inheritance systems: genetics and social learning. “Evolutionary psychol- ogy” theories emphasize that the evolutionary history of natural selection on mental pro- cesses links culture and biological adaptation; hence, cultural information is viewed as part of the organic phenotype and not an independent evolutionary system. Cross-cul- tural universals and scenarios of the “environment of evolutionary adaptedness” are used to identify characteristics of the “evolved mind” (human nature). “Behavioral ecol- ogy” theories examine relations between behavior and environmental context. Behav- ioral/cultural variations are viewed as products of flexible decision-making processes (evolved mind) that may respond adaptively to micro-environmental differences. It is difficult to devise empirical tests that distinguish among these theories, because they share many basic premises and make similar predictions
    [Show full text]
  • Soci111 – Human Societies Module 7 – Evolution of Human Societies
    Soci111 – Human Societies Module 7 – Evolution of Human Societies François Nielsen University of North Carolina Chapel Hill September 18, 2016 Outline Main Themes Memes Biological vs. Sociocultural Evolution Outcomes of Socio-Cultural Evolution Main Themes É Dawkins’ concept of meme as a cultural analogue of the gene É how biological and sociocultural evolution are both based on the 3 fundamental processes of continuity, innovation, and selection É how sociocultural selection operates both É within societies (intra-societal selection) É between societies (inter-societal selection) É meaning of The Great Paradox É central role of technology in sociocultural evolution Memes Richard Dawkins’s Concept of Meme É Robert Burns (1759-1796) É Today many people É Original “Auld Lang Syne” sing É “For thesake of auld And here ’s a hand, my trusty lang syne. ” fiere, because of “piercing And gie’s a hand o’ thine; É power” of the s & k And we’ll tak a right guid-willie sounds waught For auld lang syne. É Dawkins: an example of a Full lyrics successful meme? Memes Richard Dawkins’s Concept of Meme É Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene É “An ‘idea-meme’ ... an entity that is capable of being transmitted from one brain to another” (p. 196) É “Imitation, in the broad sense, is how memes can replicate. But just as not all genes that can replicate do so successfully, so some memes are more successful in the meme-pool than others. This is the analogue of natural selection” (p. 194) É “Cultural transmission is analogous to genetic transmission in that, although basically conservative, it can give rise to a form of evolution” (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Lenski's Ecological- Evolutionary Theory
    Lenski’s Ecological- Evolutionary Theory By Dr. F. Elwell Note This presentation is based on the theories of Gerhard Lenski as presented in his works. A more complete summary of his theories (as well as the theories of other macro-theorists) can be found in Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems, by Frank W. Elwell. If you would like to receive a .pdf file of the chapter on Lenski please write me at [email protected] and put Lenski.pdf in the subject line. Gerhard Lenski Evolutionary Perspectives . Largely fallen into disuse in sociology since Spencer and the social Darwinists. Gerhard Lenski was one of the first to go against this trend. Since the mid-1960s Lenski has been developing an ecological- evolutionary theory that is broad is scope. Induction/Deduction His method is both deductive and inductive. Taking elements of classical theory as his starting point, he then examines empirical findings (ethnographies, histories, and comparative sociology) and modifies his theory accordingly. Ecological-Evolutionary Theory The deductive part of the theory begins from the insights of T. Robert Malthus, an economist and demographer of the early nineteenth century. From Malthus Lenski borrows the observation that human societies are part of the world of nature. Ecological-Evolutionary Theory Like all life forms humans have a reproductive capacity that substantially exceeds the necessary subsistence resources in the environment. Thus, Lenski concludes, human populations tend to grow until they come up against the limits of food production, and then they are checked. Ecological-Evolutionary Theory Like Spencer before him, Lenski insists that sociocultural evolution is but a special case of the general evolutionary process.
    [Show full text]
  • The Psychological Foundations of Culture Generation -Of Culture
    From: The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary psychology The Psychological Foundations of Culture generation -of culture J. Barkow, L. Cosmides, JOHNTOOBY AND LEDA COSMIDES 1992. New York: Oxford INTRODUCTION: THE UNITY OF SCIENCE One of the strengths of scientific inquiry is that it can progress with any mixture of empiri- cism, intuition, and formal theory that suits the convenience of the investigator. Many sci- ences develop for a time as exercises in description and empirical generalization. Only later do they acquire reasoned connectionswithin themselves and with other branches of knowl- edge. Many things were scientifically known of human anatomy and the motions ofthe plan- ets before they were scientifically explained. -GEORGE WILLIAMS, Adaptation and Natural Selection Disciplines such as astronomy, chemistry, physics, geology, and biology have devel- oped a robust combination of logical coherence, causal description, explanatory power, and testability, and have become examples of how reliable and deeply satisfy- ing human knowledge can become. Their extraordinary florescence throughout this century has resulted in far more than just individual progress within each field. These disciplines are becoming integrated into an increasingly seamless system of intercon- nected knowledge and remain nominally separated more out of educational conve- nience and institutional inertia than because of any genuine ruptures in the underlying unity of the achieved knowledge. In fact, this development is only an acceleration of the process of conceptual unification that has been building in science since the Renaissance. For example, Galileo and Newton broke down the then rigid (and now forgotten) division between the celestial and the terrestrial-two domains that for- merly had been considered metaphysically separate-showing that the same processes and principles applied to both.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracing Cultural Evolution Through Memetics
    Tracing Cultural Evolution Through Memetics Tiktik Dewi Sartika1 [email protected] Abstract Viewing human being, as a part of evolution process is still a controversial issue for some people, in fact the evolution runs. As a sociocultural entity, human being has distinctive characters in its evolution process. A Theory inherited from Darwin may have only been able to answer how a simple unit such genes evolve to such complex animal like human. Yet, how among those complex animals interact, communicate, and replicate idea in so forth formed a such self-organized sociocultural complexity, may only be, at the moment, answered by what Dawkins says as memetic evolution with meme as the replicator which, in near future, hoped to be a very potential tool for analyzing social phenomena. Keywords: human, evolution, meme, interaction, communication, replication, self-organization, complexity, social system, socioculture, Darwin, Dawkins. “We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators” -Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene- 1 Background: Evolution, are we exceptional? Darwin’s theory of evolution is, though admitted insufficient to answer human complexity today, fundamental to the study of life in schools, labs and many academic institutions. As he wrote in the Origin of Species, simple animal through natural selection and variation, gradually and cumulatively evolved to such complex animal without the need of designer. During the evolution, one character or genetic information by chances is inherited then spread through successive generation in different circumstances causing variability.
    [Show full text]