tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post7067427572333297748..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: A Falling OffMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-80709855667480036942009-06-01T14:46:03.329+01:002009-06-01T14:46:03.329+01:00so, how did the photos of the guy hanging on a tuf...so, how did the photos of the guy hanging on a tuft of grass come out?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-72446661944869690992009-05-20T22:55:02.473+01:002009-05-20T22:55:02.473+01:00A few days ago I started to read "The Art Instinc...A few days ago I started to read "The Art Instinct" by Denis Dutton. One of the things that made me think about is how the changes we perceive in our life hardly could be of some effect in the long run. Dutton, to make it clear, compares the thousands of generations of humans that, by mutation and selection, shaped our habits in the Pleistocene against our mere hundreds from the invention of writing (do not remember the exact numbers he uses nor the time span used for each generation but the calculus seemed sound at the moment).<br /><br />If you think about it and think about the various,failed, experiments in trying to introduce some mutations in the Drosophila you will see that the time scales required to produce a significant and lasting change in a life form is enormous and far beyond a single life.<br /><br />I understand that this is based on the, objectionable, assumption that culture is some sort of second nature, and as such it is exposed to the same evolutionary constraints (well to be honest Hegel forgot about the problem of mating but since he was not aware of Darwin's coming and mating was not his forte we can be forgiving about and leave an open hole :-).<br /><br />But to the last remark (sorry). The Gallic cousin of ours Raymond Aron is wrong IMHO. If you consider the current USA empire as a mutations of the British one (mutations of the same scale occurred to the Roman Empire in four centuries) you will see that the timing gets closer with a slight acceleration for obvious reasons (consider mail travel time as a possible measure among the many). <br />To be exact we are not even next to the end.<br /><br />Sorry for the length and approximate linguistic form. Feel free to cut abruptly the text.<br /><br />SalutiMauro Thon Giudicihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17596131985430080494noreply@blogger.com