Michael Ragland wrote:
> 
> PR:
> In my opinion, the most important result of formalizing natural
> selection has been the discovery on the part of the more astute of its
> practitioners that the explanatory void between the theory of natural
> selection and human nature is even greater and more enigmatic than
> previously imagined. Dawkins has the rare gift of being able to be blunt
> and honest, not only about the virtues of the theory, but also with
> regard to its shortcomings (i.e., the need for a memetics to fill the
> void): 
> 
> Response:
> I see no explanatory void between the theory of natural selection and
> human nature.  

But your the person who made the following remark:

> MR: 
> I'd like to think my 'concerns' and 'hopes' go beyond the Darwinian
> imperative of passing on my genes. 
> 

and this:

 > In my case my hopes and concerns are for the continued survival of the
 > human species. I realize the way I would like to see reality is not the
 > way reality is. Nevertheless, I think I have something to contribute.

While these comments may seem rather mundane from the perspective of what
we have come to expect from our fellow humans, you seem blissfully
ignorant of the fact that such noble motives are currently incomprehensible
from the perspective of the only viable hypothesis we have of the
processes that produced us:

[BEGIN QUOTES]

     Be warned that if you wish, as I do, to build a
     society in which individuals cooperate generously
     and unselfishly towards a common good, you can
     expect little help from biological nature.  Let
     us try to TEACH generosity and altruism, because
     WE ARE BORN SELFISH.  Let us understand what our
     selfish genes are upt to, because we may then at
     least have the chance to UPSET THEIR DESIGNS,
     SOMETHING THAT NO OTHER SPECIES HAS EVER ASPIRED
     TO.  (Dawkins)  [emphasis mine]


   The identification of individuals as the unit of
   selection is a central theme in Darwin's thought.
   This idea underliees his most radical claim: that
   evolution is purposeless and without inherent
   direction. ... Evolution does not recognize the 'good'
   of the ecosystem' or even the 'GOOD OF THE SPECIES.'
   Any harmony or stability is only an indirect result of
   individuals relentlessly pursuing their own self-interest
   -- in modern parlance, getting more of their genes into
   future generations by greater reproductive success.
   Individuals are the unit of selection; the "struggle
   for existence" is a matter among individuals (Stephen
   Gould).


   _With very few exceptions_, the only parts of the theory
   of natural selection which have been supported by
   mathematical models admit no possiblity of the
   evolution of any characters which are on average to
   the disadvantage of the individuals possessing them.
   If natural selection followed the classical models
   exclusively, species would not show any behavior more
   positively social than the coming together of the
   sexes and parental care....(W. D. Hamilton).


   Even with qualifications regarding the possibility
   of group selection, the portrait of the biologically
   based social personality that emerges is one of
   predominantly self-serving opportunism EVEN FOR THE
   MOST SOCIAL SPECIES, for all species in which
   there is genetic competition among the social co-
   operators, that is, where all members have the chance
   of parenthood (Donald Campbell).


   Unlike [Lorentz and Montagu], I think 'nature red in
   tooth and claw' sums up our modern understanding of
   natural selection admirably. (Dawkins).

[END QUOTES]

Mike.  How do you account for the the noble motives in
yourself given that all these authors find them incomprehensible?
Or do you simply think these guys really don't really mean any
of this, e.g., that they are diliberately overstating the case?

Do you disagree with E. O. Wilson's remark that altruism (e.g.
concern for the species as a whole) is 'the central theoretical
problem of sociobiology'?

PR
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