Kevin wrote:Human intelligence is also the most likely cause of the destruction of the planet! hrm...
Fouling your nest is stupid. The same action cannot be both stupid and intelligent. Human reasoning capacity can be either smart or stupid. Beginning from incorrect premises (eg that humans are above nature) and failing to examine your assumptions is stupid. So I would say our current reckless plummeting towards destruction is based on stupid reasoning, not intelligence.
memes? Isn't it, effectively, shorthand for designating the capability of spoken language? It is then not intelligence per se, but the accumulation of knowledge through language, which sets us apart from the other species. It is not our intelligence that allows us, for better or worse, to think beyond matters such as heat, light, and food but simply the ability to pass on information - good vocal chords - there's our meme.
Good point, but I do think that language makes humans smarter than other animals. Memes are units of cultural evolution that are conveyed via the Lamarckian method of inheritance of acquired characteristics. Language is the main carrier of memes, and creates a capacity for communication and intelligence that is different in kind from dumb animals.
are all the other species non-rational? I just don't think of meme as equating to rationality... maybe I should.
What I was getting at, perhaps in too brief a response to the article that Geo linked, was that adaptive memes, ie those that display fertility, stability and longevity, have to be in tune with their natural context, just as adaptive genes do. Adaptive memes are good and intelligent. There are also bad memes that are destructive, and it is irrational to propagate them.
You say that the more foolish aspects of modern society lack a coherent memetic basis but what it actually lacks is a coherent rational basis but Greed is Good is just as coherent an outlook as any other. It is also one that is catered to far more than the the others... modern society is based on it. ... Capitalism, well-regulated or not, or some alternative, makes no difference... they are all symptoms of the problem. The problem is one of great intelligence stored in unwise containers. I think we kind of agree!
It depends what you mean by coherent. Coherence of ideas requires more than just internal consistency. If I say I want to foul my nest because I am selfish and will not have to worry about the impact of my deeds, and I don't care if my children die young, yes that can appear to be a perfectly consistent argument, considered in isolation. However, it does not cohere with any sense of moral responsibility, public good, future consequences or duty.
There are many memes that carry the seed of their own destruction. Nazism and communism are good examples; they seemed coherent to many people, and were successful for a while, but were based on false premises, and were not sustainable. This means that ultimately they were incoherent with regard to any claim to serve a public good.
Climate science tells us that if we move all the carbon from the crust to the atmosphere we will boil the oceans. Working back from this observation, actions that assume it is possible to steadily increase the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere are similarly incoherent with respect to an understanding of the public good.