On Dec 4, 6:25 pm, "Jon Slaughter" wrote:
> "Maverick" wrote in message
> > So what you are saying is xenophobia has been shown by evolution to
> >be a successful trait.
>
> No, I never said that.
On the other hand - it probably IS, or at least was, a survival trait
at some point, else it wouldn't be retained. Running away from the
strange or unusual tends to increase your chances for survival,
even though the "strange or unusual" would actually wind up also
being "potentially fatal" just 10% or even 1% of the time.
But so what? There's a LOT of evolutionary baggage we're saddled
with, and quite often it has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to
how human beings should conduct themselves in a civilized
world. Keep in mind that that which we call "civilization" is a
relatively recent invention on the evolutionary time scale, and
certainly hasn't been with us long enough to have had much
impact on our genetic make-up. For that matter, it could be
said that in many aspects, mankind has taken more control
over its own evolution than would be true in the "natural" order
of things - our medical science, for instance, means that
genetic disorders that would in earlier times have been fatal
are often now no more than relatively minor annoyances, and
the individual carrying those genes survives to pass them on.
Doesn't make them "good" or "bad," it just shows that in the
current scheme of things, what was "a successful trait" in
evolutionary terms may be an utter "don't care" now.
Bob M.
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