Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: request for comments Message-ID: Date: 1 Nov 90 18:11:58 GMT References: <9011010338.AA06190@well.sf.ca.us> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 18 In article <9011010338.AA06190@well.sf.ca.us> moritz@well.UUCP (Elan Moritz) writes: > Homo trans-sapiens is the [postulated] next step in > evolution of homo sapiens. There is no reason to expect or > require that Homo sapiens will not undergo further > evolution. There is no reason to expect or require that this evolution will be along the same lines as that observed up to now. Evolution is not a directed process, but is the result of the selective pressure on individuals prior to reproduction. The nature of this pressure has changed drastically in the past million years, and there is reason to believe that selective pressure in favor of increased brain size and complexity no longer exists. In fact trends over the past fifty thousand years reflect this. Don't expect benign mutations to pull us out of the mess. It's gonna take real work by a huge number of real people, and behaviours left over from the period *you're* taking into account make it very hard to get things started. The first tools were swords, not plowshares. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' +1 713 274 5180. 'U` peter@ferranti.com