yes, good points. i am aware of them, and glossed over the whole thing when i said "it is therefore in an individual's best interests to play nice so that one's DNA may be multiplied as many times as possible."
by this i meant that cooperation can ultimately benefit an individual organism's quest to reproduce.
but in the end, i honestly don't believe any of this. i'm not a materialist, and i don't think that humans can be reduced to mechanisms as i described.
i really don't know what i believe anymore. i read a lot about evolution and life sciences, so i'm inclined to believe what i argued above. but on the other hand, i'm trained in anthropology, so i know how important the role of society is in human endeavors. i'm also well-versed in philosophy which just adds another branch to the tree. and then there's quantum uncertainty which comes along like a chainsaw and cuts the whole damned tree down. what a mess!
|