At 09:47 AM 5/17/03 -0700, Tim May wrote:
The general theme is purpose "the purpose of life." The purpose of any lifeform, or at least the outcome after competition and selection, is furtherance of life.
Genes exist to copy genes; genes cooperate to this end. Growing metazoans such as ourselves is a means to that end.
Likewise, the purpose of Congress as a generalized lifeform is to perpetuate itself, to grow, to become more dominant. ... I hesitate to call this a "bionomic interpretation," especially as I never really bothered to learn what "bionomics" was all about, but it's
a kind of biological interpretation.
You mention Darwin but not Richard Dawkins author of _Selfish Gene_ and later meme theories. Memes are basically ideas. They can replicate, compete, cooperate, etc. Brains are the medium in which they grow. Memes like "believe me or believers kill you" are particularly cancerous. If you haven't read Dawkins, you should, and he's quite an enjoyable read. ---- Language is an RPC call. Sheeple give it root access.