When Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin,
coined the phrase 'The Survival of the fittest'
it was meant to summarize Darwin's ideas
in an way that the public would find easy to grasp.
Like many similar phrases it missed much of the point
that the original work, by Darwin, meant to make.
Fitness for life was proved at least as much
by how the process of survival became apparent
from closely observing adaption to a given environment
as it was from observing the process of species becoming extinct.
But words are like wars - proof of egotism beyond belief.
If we need proof for this, consider how Galton's
rhetoric helped found the eugenics movement.
Galton started by mis-breeding cattle, then dogs
and more, until his words mis-bred with each other.
Capitalists will see those whose energies they abuse
for profits as sub-human, as sub human as Francis Galton
once saw all life he could not directly manipulate and control.
I blame the fearful economic theories of Thomas Malthus.
coined the phrase 'The Survival of the fittest'
it was meant to summarize Darwin's ideas
in an way that the public would find easy to grasp.
Like many similar phrases it missed much of the point
that the original work, by Darwin, meant to make.
Fitness for life was proved at least as much
by how the process of survival became apparent
from closely observing adaption to a given environment
as it was from observing the process of species becoming extinct.
But words are like wars - proof of egotism beyond belief.
If we need proof for this, consider how Galton's
rhetoric helped found the eugenics movement.
Galton started by mis-breeding cattle, then dogs
and more, until his words mis-bred with each other.
Capitalists will see those whose energies they abuse
for profits as sub-human, as sub human as Francis Galton
once saw all life he could not directly manipulate and control.
I blame the fearful economic theories of Thomas Malthus.
No comments:
Post a Comment