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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: The Impact of Inventions
Message-ID: <2338@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Jul-87 16:53:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: dciem.2338
Posted: Mon Jul 13 16:53:45 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Jul-87 01:28:25 EDT
References: <2041@hplabsc.HP.COM> <2177@hplabsc.HP.COM>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Distribution: world
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 34
Summary: 


>It occurs to me that there may be a parallel between evolution of life
>forms and the "short-term profit motive" Priddle mentions above.  If I
>understand what the biologists are saying to us, it is that every
>biological characteristic that happens as an evolutionary change and
>survives, does so because it is of immediate benefit to the posessor of
>that characteristic, and not because of some long term goal that may
>benefit a life form that may happen to come along at a later date.  I
>interpret this to be a form of "short-term profit motive" in a
>biological setting.

Not strictly accurate. Evolutionary changes that survive need not
benefit their possessor.  They only enhance the probability that
the characteristic propagates, which can be done to the detriment
of the possessor of the characteristic.  That doesn't look like
short-term profit motive to me.  Indeed, short-term profit would
be likely to have the opposite effect, considering the expenditure
(energy, time ...) involved in producing progeny.  

We probably don't see the progeny of organisms that (by mutation?)
developed a strong short-term profit motive, because they invested
in themselves and not in the survival of their genetic structures.
The same probably holds for societies in which short-term profit
is a dominant motive, whether it be of the citizens or of the
government.
-- 

Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt
{uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsri!dciem!mmt
mmt@zorac.arpa
Magic is just advanced technology ... so is intelligence.  Before computers,
the ability to do arithmetic was proof of intelligence.  What proves
intelligence now?