Posted by alexandra_k on December 14, 2013, at 17:54:54
In reply to Re: damn, posted by alexandra_k on December 14, 2013, at 3:28:39
it really is so hard to truly believe that other lifeways aren't worse than our own. our way always just seems better... because it is our own.
what do you mean 'organized religion'? do the socio-cultural practices of societies without written language count?
i wonder about traditional medicine... medical anthropology... hrm...
this pinnacle / hierarchy idea is deeply entrenched. we used to think that humans were the pinnacle / peak of all the species. of course angels and god were above us. but humans were above all the other animals.
even post-darwin there was this idea of evolutionary progress. this idea that some species are more evolved than others. even in quite sophisticated accounts... seeing the eukaryote as being more 'advanced' or 'progressive' than the prokaryote. more 'complex'. ur... 'better'.
metabolism... flow of electrons... efficiency.
sober: it is possible for evolutionary processes to, by a successive progression of relative fitness increase, drive through a trait that is worse for the population. that is more metabolically costly. that could drive a population into exinction. e.g., increase in clutch size.
so behavioural economics, then?
ur... no...
systemic. maybe that is the thing. and to understand how things are related (like pharma, high cost meds / patients, wastage, donation, western / traditional medicine interaction, scientific discovery of new molecules, pharma investment) or whatever... understand dynamic process... (rather than 'freeze time! - now lets put little labels on things 'most adaptive!' 'dysfunctional!' 'member of x species' or whatever.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1055362
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20131211/msgs/1056169.html