As something of a fan of Hayek, I’ll take this opportunity to disagree.
The mistaken assumption is that a meme that survives must be good for “us”. The meme’s that survive are the ones that survive. Being good for us is just one of the many competing forces effecting memetic fitness.
I have a simpler rejection of fancy shmancy intellectualism. The probability that you just don’t understand the argument should be weighed against your prior that what it seems to imply to you is in fact true. Often it’s more likely that you’re just confused.
I assume no such causation. I do assume a correlation, which is brought about by evolution: cooperation beats conflict.
? I think evolution has shown that the bigger stick beats the smaller stick. Genghis Khan has something like 16 million male direct descendants.
But that’s besides the point. A thriving meme does not imply a meme “good” for us, any more than a thriving virus implies a virus that is “good” for us.
I don’t understand your “simpler rejection” as stated.
Sting: And when their eloquence escapes you, their logic ties you up and rapes you.
Or to say it another way, “I can’t refute an argument” <> “The conclusions of the argument are true.” The fact that you can’t see why it’s wrong does not make it true. The fancier and shmancier an argument is, the more this applies.
As something of a fan of Hayek, I’ll take this opportunity to disagree.
The mistaken assumption is that a meme that survives must be good for “us”. The meme’s that survive are the ones that survive. Being good for us is just one of the many competing forces effecting memetic fitness.
I have a simpler rejection of fancy shmancy intellectualism. The probability that you just don’t understand the argument should be weighed against your prior that what it seems to imply to you is in fact true. Often it’s more likely that you’re just confused.
I assume no such causation. I do assume a correlation, which is brought about by evolution: cooperation beats conflict.
I don’t understand your “simpler rejection” as stated.
? I think evolution has shown that the bigger stick beats the smaller stick. Genghis Khan has something like 16 million male direct descendants.
But that’s besides the point. A thriving meme does not imply a meme “good” for us, any more than a thriving virus implies a virus that is “good” for us.
Sting: And when their eloquence escapes you, their logic ties you up and rapes you.
Or to say it another way, “I can’t refute an argument” <> “The conclusions of the argument are true.” The fact that you can’t see why it’s wrong does not make it true. The fancier and shmancier an argument is, the more this applies.