Showing posts with label survival of the fittest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survival of the fittest. Show all posts

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Who--or What--Is the "Fittest"?



I have submitted the following comment, on the American Thinker site, in answer to another commenter who took me to task for my claim that the idea of "survival of the fittest" is a dead-end, false dogma for mankind:

Every tyrant, so long as he is on top, can claim to be the "fittest". It is also known as "might makes right". Except the tyrant, even if he dies of old age, is NOT the fittest in the hearts and minds of all those he oppresses; and might does NOT make right--I am SURE you know that, though you might be inclined to deny it here.

In the end, who decides who--or what--is the "fittest"? Hitler was sure he knew, and how many people died in World War II because he was wrong (50, 60, 80 million, I don't remember)? America allowed slavery of blacks when it was first founded, because many in positions of influence and power believed THEY knew who was fittest (because they "knew" blacks were not), and that is still biting America where it hurts most.

In science, Darwin and his theory of undirected evolution (the very source of the phrase, and of today's idea, of "survival of the fittest") is taken--by the overwhelming, almost universal consensus--to be one of the fittest of theories; it governs and guides not just the life sciences but all the earth sciences too, as if the Earth just happened to "evolve", from gases and rocks thrown together in space, into the miracle of separate continents, ocean(s), environments and climates, supporting both animal and plant life, and both land and ocean life, in amazing diversity, in something that looks very much like harmony (ohmigod).

But Darwin was wrong, and all of the earth and life sciences that rely upon his theory are wrong, precisely to the extent that they do so rely on it (they are not wrong, precisely to the extent they recognize design, and study to know it, as the natural philosophers, like Leonardo da Vinci, who preceded them did). Science doesn't know this yet, but this scientist does, as no other scientist does, even the "creationists" and the "Intelligent Design" followers. As a hard scientist--a physicist--I have made the greatest discovery in history. I call it "the Great Design of the 'gods' ", and it is pretty much all-encompassing, being a physical design imposed upon the entire surface of the Earth, as well as, in the intellectual sphere. the original motivation for all the "ancient mysteries" you may read about, or see discussed on TV. It is in fact the single, until-now-hidden, source of all of mankind's earliest beliefs, and how they developed throughout succeeding history. So I speak as the discoverer of the next paradigm, that WILL replace the Darwinian paradigm that has ruled since his day.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Science Is A Single Mind, Learning



The Notrickszone has a post on the trouble with peer review, and the following is my (by now habitual) response:

Ordinary people need to understand that there are basically two kinds of scientist when it comes to the peer-review process: 1) Principal Investigators, and 2) Everyone else, including a) Research Associates, who are simply employees, without tenure, who can be "terminated"--fired--without cause, and b)"expert" (a meaningless word these days) consultants from other fields or other institutions (also known as "pals", as in "pal review", get it?).

When the subject of peer review comes up these days, I trot out my 2003 letter on peer review to the OMB, when it requested feedback on peer review (see also all 2003 Public Comments on Peer Review that they received).

My bottom line, from experience: "peer review ... is a system akin to that of independent feudal lords or warring tribal chiefs", i.e., those "Principal Investigators" whose main concerns are keeping their research grant money coming in year after year, and being taken as the unquestioned authorities in their fields (which mainly requires they never allow even the possibility they could be wrong about the "settled science", as the "Emperor" must be peerless, in their own minds). As you can see, the fundamental mindset is that of "survival of the fittest and I must be the fittest"--and (LEARN THIS, people) that mindset (also known as "the struggle for scarce resources") is NOT the way to the TRUTH in science (despite what you may think you have learned "the hard way" in life). True science--uncovering the truth--is NOT a competition (or a social construct, as in "postnormal science" or even a "consensus"), in any way, shape or form. It is, fundamentally, a single mind, learning something true (cause and effect) about the world--period.