yep i'm sure you've seen my rant.
One book I recommend people get ahold of, connected to my rant here, is "Too Big to Know". One chapter started off with my concerns about Internet stuff, and how you get people go into bubbles and then argue endlessly and never be able to reach conclusion. Throw in the echo chamber also that badgenome brought up (a chapter of the book goes into that to), and you capture a basis of my fatigue.
Anyhow, you can check the book out here:
http://www.amazon.com/Too-Big-Know-Rethinking-Everywhere/dp/0465021425
silicon said:
Source 3 is just to raise awareness of the influences of politics. Maybe political beliefs are not completely based on genetics (most likely epigenetics), but there is an underlying moral basis which may be rooted in genetics. It's very straight forward if you believe in evolution. |
I believe in evolution, but I don't believe that everything I think is determined by genetics. We all have very different perspectives because we all have had very different experiences and we have all been raised by different people with different methods for teaching. That is what causes our bias not some genetic liberal/conservative toggle switch.
We are all more than the sum of our parts. That's why I believe we are all responsible for actions. I don't blame genetics and feel sorry for a child molester. I feel sorry for the victim, punish the monster, and hope treatment can alter the deviant's perspective.
To believe evolution dictates our thoughts means you have very little faith in free will. I believe free will is what separates us from the rest of the animals on this planet. We are better than them, because we choose to be better and have the tools to achieve it. Those creative tools are the rewards of an evolution hard fought for, but that's what they are, tools, not shackles of the mind.
kain_kusanagi said:
I believe in evolution, but I don't believe that everything I think is determined by genetics. We all have very different perspectives because we all have had very different experiences and we have all been raised by different people with different methods for teaching. That is what causes our bias not some genetic liberal/conservative toggle switch. We are all more than the sum of our parts. That's why I believe we are all responsible for actions. I don't blame genetics and feel sorry for a child molester. I feel sorry for the victim, punish the monster, and hope treatment can alter the deviant's perspective. To believe evolution dictates our thoughts means you have very little faith in free will. I believe free will is what separates us from the rest of the animals on this planet. We are better than them, because we choose to be better and have the tools to achieve it. Those creative tools are the rewards of an evolution hard fought for, but that's what they are, tools, not shackles of the mind. |
I think maybe we agree.
I was referring to epigenetics, which is just the term for the way our experiences are reflected by genetic expression. By having a genetic predisposition I meant that some experiences may trigger certain genes to be expressed.