Games for Brutes
09-May-90 00:16:53
Sb: #33142-Games for Brutes
Fm: JAMES D. WILLIAMS 72157,3524
To: Syndesis 76004,1763
Nope. _In _context_ (ie, in _that_ society) it is 'OK'… but not
necessarily in mine or in my view. You bet I'll refrain from judging the
situation… _out_of_context_. Evolution doesn't judge the 'rightness' or
'wrongness' of behaviour beyond whether it is pro survival or
anti-survival. We don't know the mechanisms of evolution well enough to
judge behaviour outside of our own soceity. (Which _doesn't_ mean that you
can't make judgements within your _own_ society, since here it funtions as
part of the evolutionary process). Maybe one day we will know the
mechanisms well enough, but this pathetic know-it-all soceiety doesn't. I
don't like the idea of 11 chimpanzees mounting 1 female, and none claiming
her nor the child she bears… but time will tell whether this is 'right'
or 'wrong'… (that image is one that's stuck with me since an intro anthro
class years ago)
–Eet–