As science stands today, the genes are only the
hardware that cannot function without the software;
and the software depends on the social/cultural/
emotional environment. If M.Thatcher, Hitler etc.'d
had a decent, warm, secure upbringing - then there
would have been somebody else to fill their place;
there would have been still wars and attrocities
committed in the name of "race" and "country"
but in actuality in the name of capitalist competition for
markets - in this old century of ours.
Eva
> Jay Hanson wrote:
> >
> > >Tor Førde:
> >
> > >But about 10.000 years ago a catastrophe happened: agriculture was
> > >developed. And from then on began humans to suffer from malnutrition,
> > >starvation and suppression.
> > >
> > >Diamond says that there once was a garden of Eden, but he does not say
> > >that we are born sinners in any way, unlike what Jay Hanson says.
> >
> > Are you saying that people were "good" until attacked and corrupted
> > by "agriculture"? <G> But "agriculture" didn't invade Earth from outer
> > space, we invented it -- it's in our genes.
> >
> > Jay – www.dieoff.com
>
> Maybe we can all agree: *Everything* that any living
> being ("lebendiges Gewesen"(sp?)) has ever been or done
> is in our genes.
>
> That would include Hitler, Stalin, the Talibans(sp?)
> in Afghanistan, all the noble savages (and the less noble ones...).
> Husserl, Darwin, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Oprah,
> Linda Tripp, Dolly [Sheep] --
>
> and my own maternal grandfather who looked and acted (and
> thought? --yes, he did have at least rudimentary
> language) like a Neanderthal (stereotype, not science!).
> When I think about him, I am reminded that the retreat of the
> glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age was not (and
> "the ascent of man" is not...) uniform.... As I grow
> older I am painfully reminded that no person can rise
> above their "background" -- for though I read Husserl,
> converse with "you folks", create art, etc.,
> my flesh grows barnacles (dermatological excrescences).
>
> Therefore I mean it "personally" when I quote Abel
> Gance ("The only thing that somewhat relieves the
> degradations of aging is to create.") and Husserl (to the
> effect that the life of the mind depends on securing
> peaceful everyday life, "The spirit alone lives, all
> else dies", etc.) and others.
>
> It's *all* (and innumerable other possible lives, better
> and worse, which I have not in fact lived...)
> "in my genes"....
>
> \brad mccormick
>
> --
> Mankind is not the master of all the stuff that exists, but
> Everyman (woman, child) is a judge of the world.
>
> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA
> -------------------------------------------------------
> <![%THINK;[SGML]]> Visit my website: http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
>
