Comments on: Dennett in the Guardian http://www.frogworth.com/blog/archives/2004/07/20/dennett-in-the-guardian/ a sporadic weblog Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:03:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Peter http://www.frogworth.com/blog/archives/2004/07/20/dennett-in-the-guardian/comment-page-1/#comment-184 Peter Mon, 09 Aug 2004 14:09:41 +0000 /?p=426#comment-184 Hiya Ms .45 :) Yep I was indeed wishing to point out that innateness ought to work for the left as well as the right! Glad to hear you agree there. And sociobiologists <i>can</i> come up with some rot... but mostly that's a case of bad communication, or of letting political/social prejudices and simplifications override the science. Generally, science implies a lot less about other disciplines and areas of life than people want to infer from it. So my point is that we have to accept what we're forced to by science, and no more - while keeping our moral and political convictions. Hiya Ms .45 :) Yep I was indeed wishing to point out that innateness ought to work for the left as well as the right! Glad to hear you agree there. And sociobiologists can come up with some rot… but mostly that's a case of bad communication, or of letting political/social prejudices and simplifications override the science.

Generally, science implies a lot less about other disciplines and areas of life than people want to infer from it. So my point is that we have to accept what we're forced to by science, and no more – while keeping our moral and political convictions.

]]> By: Ms .45 http://www.frogworth.com/blog/archives/2004/07/20/dennett-in-the-guardian/comment-page-1/#comment-182 Ms .45 Fri, 30 Jul 2004 14:27:51 +0000 /?p=426#comment-182 I would like to point out that innate qualities are something that works for progressive people. I can think of few things crueller and more short-sighted than insisting that a person with an IQ of 180 and a talent for, say, identifying new planets or creating entirely new systems of being, should stifle these talents and pump out a baby a year for her childbearing life for Der Vaterland. Similarly, a minority person who has innate qualities such as leadership, intelligence, charisma, strategy and so on, if included in culture, may use those qualities productively and constructively. If systematically excluded, they can use them otherwise. On the whole, I don't really enjoy the idea of having the cure for cancer asking me if I want fries with that (or making off with my TV, stereo, etc). However, you know as well as I do that sociobiologists think some stupid shit. For a start, nature isn't "red in tooth and claw" - it's just Nature. Humans are horrified by bugs that crawl inside living caterpillars to incubate, but the bugs don't care and there's no evidence the caterpillars care either. The concept of "nature red in tooth and claw" is just as irrelevantly romantic as the idea that animals are our friends and we shouldn't eat them. In addition, sociobiologists seem to have no social life - they think, for instance, that young women get raped more than other types of females because we are young and childbearing, rather than because of the Occam-esque factor that young women are sexually active and will therefore statistically get raped more. There are other sillinesses, and I'm sure you've come across them. I would like to point out that innate qualities are something that works for progressive people. I can think of few things crueller and more short-sighted than insisting that a person with an IQ of 180 and a talent for, say, identifying new planets or creating entirely new systems of being, should stifle these talents and pump out a baby a year for her childbearing life for Der Vaterland. Similarly, a minority person who has innate qualities such as leadership, intelligence, charisma, strategy and so on, if included in culture, may use those qualities productively and constructively. If systematically excluded, they can use them otherwise. On the whole, I don't really enjoy the idea of having the cure for cancer asking me if I want fries with that (or making off with my TV, stereo, etc).

However, you know as well as I do that sociobiologists think some stupid shit. For a start, nature isn't "red in tooth and claw" – it's just Nature. Humans are horrified by bugs that crawl inside living caterpillars to incubate, but the bugs don't care and there's no evidence the caterpillars care either. The concept of "nature red in tooth and claw" is just as irrelevantly romantic as the idea that animals are our friends and we shouldn't eat them. In addition, sociobiologists seem to have no social life – they think, for instance, that young women get raped more than other types of females because we are young and childbearing, rather than because of the Occam-esque factor that young women are sexually active and will therefore statistically get raped more. There are other sillinesses, and I'm sure you've come across them.

]]> By: Peter http://www.frogworth.com/blog/archives/2004/07/20/dennett-in-the-guardian/comment-page-1/#comment-181 Peter Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:55:57 +0000 /?p=426#comment-181 Hi there Chris! Lovely to read approving comments from you :) Readers can hop over to Chris's website and blog via the sidebar, and there's no doubt I'll be pushing the novel when it finally appears!!! Hi there Chris!

Lovely to read approving comments from you :) Readers can hop over to Chris's website and blog via the sidebar, and there's no doubt I'll be pushing the novel when it finally appears!!!

]]> By: Chris Lawson http://www.frogworth.com/blog/archives/2004/07/20/dennett-in-the-guardian/comment-page-1/#comment-179 Chris Lawson Tue, 20 Jul 2004 15:55:58 +0000 /?p=426#comment-179 Hi, Peter. You know, it's very very rare that I read two blog comments in such short succession that agree 100% with my own views (the other entry was the comments about the left and Gulf War 2.0). As a hardboiled contrarian it makes me feel quite uncomfortable to admit it. Your comments at the end of the leftist entry are absolutely spot on. One of the things I'll be doing in my book (Lord, will it ever be finished!) is heaping as much praise as possible on the Red Cross, which was just about the only NGO in Rwanda to know what the hell it was doing. It's very easy to be cynical and say "we can't do anything about the way the world is" but the truth is we can. We just have to be brave and smart and energetic. Hi, Peter.

You know, it's very very rare that I read two blog comments in such short succession that agree 100% with my own views (the other entry was the comments about the left and Gulf War 2.0). As a hardboiled contrarian it makes me feel quite uncomfortable to admit it.

Your comments at the end of the leftist entry are absolutely spot on. One of the things I'll be doing in my book (Lord, will it ever be finished!) is heaping as much praise as possible on the Red Cross, which was just about the only NGO in Rwanda to know what the hell it was doing. It's very easy to be cynical and say "we can't do anything about the way the world is" but the truth is we can. We just have to be brave and smart and energetic.

]]>