Why is today's version of Darwinism politically correct?

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   John Sarkisposted 10 years ago

   Why is today's version of Darwinism politically correct?
   
   Don't want to mention the myriad of cultures out there, but some have produced phenomenal geniuses e.g., Plato, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven...whereas some civilizations are still living as they did 40 thousand years ago - only have a words in their vocabularies, etc.  Evolution says that it's not superiority/inferiority, but because they haven't needed to change in order to survive.  Well, if such is case why are many of these ancient civilizations dying out and/or are already extinct?     Darwin never addressed this (I could be mistaken?)

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2. 84

   M. T. Dremerposted 10 years ago

   Just because one civilization mastered survival in one type of environment, doesn't mean those same methods will work in an alternative environment. For example, a city might have prospered beneath a mountain for centuries, then one volcanic eruption and they're gone. The Earth is constantly changing and the species that are most likely to survive are those most adaptable to change. Extinct or dying civilizations, for whatever reason, couldn't meet the demands that were put on it.

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   1. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great answer.

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   2. 84

      John Sarkisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That's just it, they haven't mastered survival.  Many indigenous populations are perishing every day.  USA, France, England, Germany, haven't perished because of their technology/intellect.

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   3. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Recently the USA came close to perishing because of technology/intellect. The USA is still in financial recovery mode. Small wars that go nowhere are still draining USA coffers and costing USA lives. Not so smart then.

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3. 68

   Rod Marsdenposted 10 years ago

   Is there a politically correct version of Darwin's ideas? I suppose going back to the Nazi period in Germany there was a view of Darwin's ideas that was twisted. Darwin himself wouldn't have recognized it. For the times it was absolutely 'politically correct' as far as things political in the Third Reich were concerned. It was also against the basics of science as we even knew them back then or as Darwin had discovered them back in the late 19th Century. The Nazis tried to breed supermen failing to realize this simply wouldn't work. You get couples together of the same kind of or similar genetic make up and you have all the problems associated with in-breeding. Darwin knew that diversity was the strength of sexuality in species including humans. It is why we are not asexual beings. For all our so-called technical superiority the western civilizations are right now on the way out. There is overpopulation of the planet because humanity has been way too successful for its own good and there is a limit to how much humanity our earth can support. Lots of reasons why some civilizations go in one direction and not another.

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   1. 84

      John Sarkisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      During Darwin's time, the English thought they were the ____ and a half; only the Germans came close to them, but not even!... - Darwin considered indigenous populations below European ones.  Good answer though!

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   2. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Darwin thought the British were the most technologically advanced race on the planet and he was right. Of course that was some time ago and they can't have that claim anymore.

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   James A Watkinsposted 10 years ago

   ACCORDING TO CHARLES DARWIN:
   “Since the dawn of history the negro has owned the continent of Africa – rich beyond the dream of poet’s fancy, crunching acres of diamonds beneath his bare black feet. Yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering light. His land swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. A hunter by necessity, he never made an axe, spear, or arrowhead worth preserving beyond the moment of its use. He lived as an ox, content to graze for an hour. In a land of stone and timber he never sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a house save of broken sticks and mud. With league on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, for four thousand years he watched their surface ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed a sail.”— Charles Darwin

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   1. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It all comes down to necessity, James. The ancient Nubians were a dark skinned race that took on the ancient Egyptians and sometimes won. They rode horses and they had their own written language. Not bad.

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   2. 84

      John Sarkisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      James, exactly my point!  Well said!

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