"Darwin pointed to the importance of biological nature as the basis of society, although it is more difficult to work out the precise connection between human nature and the different forms of human culture. A strong hold on Darwinian theory certainly acts as an effective antidote to the relativism which suggests that each society must be understood in its own terms, and that there is nothing in common between societies separated by time and space. [Thus] some modern neo-Darwinians are....inclined to explain morality wholly in evolutionary terms. Such an exercise is misconceived. Human reason, as a capacity, may be the product of evolution; but it is sufficiently flexible and free-ranging to detach itself from the direction of our natural inclinations. It can even sit in judgement on them. Certainly, evolutionary theory is more adept at dealing with the origin of our natural sympathies and aversions, our likes and dislikes, than in explaining the operation of human reason. Since it is itself the product of the latter, it is wise not to over-reach itself." Roger TRIGG, 1988, Ideas of Human Nature. Oxford : Blackwell. Evolution not revolution. That's good, because we evolve, we don't...revolve. Darwinian processes are an algorithm for chugging through design space toward better designs for one's environment. It's speeded up from Darwin's "breed and die" to Skinner's "try that and die" to Popper's "imagine that and don't die" to our "did you hear about the guy who strapped rockets to his car? Don't do that!" Damien Sullivan Any sufficiently large advance in evolution is indistinguishable from a doomsday weapon Tommy the Terrorist Evolution is a radiation, not a ladder. Norman Pace On a visible but distant shore, a new image of man; The shape of his own future, now in his own hands.-- Johnny Clegg. Natural selection won't matter soon, not anywhere near as much as conscious selection. We will civilise and alter ourselves to suit our ideas of what we can be. Within one more human lifespan, we will have changed ourselves unrecognisably". David Brin Every human is an universe. We cannot remain still. We have only two possibilities: to shrink or to grow. Tor Norretranders "Geological time inspires awe, and there are no certainties about the future, but perhaps it is almost certain that someday they will collect our skulls and call us Early Man." While this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved .... There is grandeur in this view of life. Charles Darwin, "The Origin of Species" Adapt! Evolve! Transcend! Carl L. Congdon An thou harm no one, change or die shall be the Whole of the Law Carl L. Congdon It is a profound truth --- realized in the nineteenth century by only a handful of astute biologists and by philosophers hardly at all (indeed, most of those who held and views on the matter held a contrary opinion) --- a profound truth that Nature does not know best; that genetical evolution, if we choose to look at it liverishly instead of with fatuous good humor, is a story of waste, makeshift, compromise and blunder. The Future of Man, Sir Peter Medawar "By the year 2015 the super computer equal to our human brain will be with us" By 2025 it will be on our desks, and by 2030 it will be wearing us" Oeter Cochrane Hurry up and evolve! Until now, people have evolved as a result of a process unguided by intelligence. The particular ways in which atoms and packets of energy self-assemble to form humans and the behavior that propagates them across generations is unplanned as far as we can know. This self assembly has been a process devoid of forethought or moral constraint. The only criterion for the continuing existence of a strain of humans has been whether or not they successfully procreate. Now we are to cross a threshold to a modal change in the process that give rise to human life. We are about to enter a new epoch in which some or all human beings, their nature, and the events that derive from it will be planned and guided by human minds. The pertinent question is who is going to enhance what and what will be the consequences for them and others. However much we may rebel at the idea, the human species must now play "god". What kind of "god" will we be? Scott C. Guth, M.D. If we are given the gift, by virtue of work and study, to be able to improve the quality of life for our generation and generations to come, then I think it is mandatory to do so. Bad people exist; and they will use whatever means available to do bad things. I do not believe that is sufficeint reason to limit our own potential and advancement as a race. If we are able to improve ourselves, we must. Jeffrey Walter In a few years, autonomous agent evolution will yield machines which can reproduce themselves. At that point, true "robot evolution" can start and the resulting explosion of agents will be unthinkable. Robots will become predators and prey and the weak and inefficient will be scrapped for raw materials. Until that point, we are the robot gods. We play with them like the Greek gods of Mount Olympus, helping them along and "retiring" those that break down too often to fix or are just plain useless. We evolve them by making more of those that function well and scrapping those that don't. Let us not suffer the fate of the Greek gods who are said to have disappeared as their human subjects no longer needed their guidance." Walking Robots Group "Robot Philosophy" page (http://www.mil.ufl.edu/groups/walking/res5.htm): Evolve your memes, because in the process of doing so you recreate yourself and the reality around you. Become and be. Exile Life moves in clades. A clade is a daughter species, a related descendant. It's happened to other successful animals, and now it's humanity's turn. The factions still struggle, but the categories are breaking up. No faction can claim the one true destiny for mankind. Mankind no longer exists. Bruce Sterling, Schismatrix Intelligence's role is not in letting dead matter stay dead, but in directly controlling growth attempts once limits have been reached, rather than letting starvation and food fights control growth. The Low Golden Willow We live in exciting times: In our own destruction lies the next great step in the evolution of live on Earth. Nathan Chronister We cannot escape natural selection, but we are not compelled to behave adaptively. Nathan Chronister "...Self-reproducing probes or robots, free from such restraints [Darwinian evolution], could advance by Lamarckian evolution. That is, they could pass on directly any acquired abilities and desired improvements to the next generation, and evolve rapidly capabilities beyond the reach of biological beings." - Edward Ashpole, The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence The axis of geogenesis is now extended in biogenesis, which in the end will express itself in psychogenesis. Teilhard de Chardin Life does not work by following a single thread, nor yet by fits and starts. It pushes forward its whole network at one and the same time. Teilhard de Chardin If you understand how primitive you are, and have some understanding of how things are going to evolve, you're part of that. You're the Neanderthal that can look ahead into the future and help create it. Timothy Leary We will see gods walking among mere men, soon. And the surest way not to be trod upon seems to be becoming one. The chances are sure slim. But the fun! Eugene Leitl We are a bootrstrap phase for intelligence "We cannot claim to be taking our species and planet seriously until we acknowledge that a million years is a proper unit of political time. -- Colin Tudge, The Future Evolution of Homo Sapiens "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." - John F. Kennedy Apathy is a dominant gene. Mutate. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. - George Bernard Shaw "What have they done to you? Our natural heritige is to live and die like morons. This is the time for revolution." Carlos Castaneda "Improving product cycle time and quality is a high priority... ...Improving the improvement cycle will be just as critical to an organization's survival and success." - Dr. Douglas Engelbart, Bootstrap Institute Director cclxxviii. Oh, so soft and vivid is tonight's dusk! Oh! Forever these purple clouds shall hang, As shall the magnolia blossom's musk, And the good night the mourning doves just sang. Now I feel that these actors were fated, By biological scripts, by quantum's Fortune-- significance of free will's abated. To useless logic I 'm comfortably numb. All spoken words, actions, where are they now? Where's goes sculpture's sculpting? Writer's writing? Out of past actions we sculptures did grow, Now adult, we fade in the benighting. But all action's recorded in evolution, As offspring are closer to perfection. Drake Raft http://jollyroger.com/beaconway/jr14.html "Society's only real 'progressives' are the deviants and mutants. Look at evolution - fish who didn't deviate never became amphibians; frogs who didn't mutate never became reptiles; conformist snakes never became mammals , etc. Normal Humans will remain humans, and they'll be subjugated by the digital monsters of the next few millenia." - Jim Goad, ed. of _ANSWER ME_ Orgel's Second Rule: Evolution is cleverer than you are. -- Francis Crick quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in _Elbow Room_ (1984) Calvin - Do you believe in evolution? Hobbes - No. Calvin - You don't believe humans evolved from monkeys? Hobbes - *I* sure don't see any difference. -- Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson Fitness function also evaluates Unbelievers. Better Believe it Eugene Instead of trying to specify a system in full detail, specify it only somewhat. You can then ride on the dynamics of the system in the direction you want to go. -- Stafford Beer I know that the human condition will be radically changed through technical means. Much of this change will be painful, monstrous and horrible. Most mutations are disgusting failures, most experiments are failures. I accept this and I don't find it frightening. Bruce Sterling "Someone is going to make your product obsolete. Make sure it's you." ---Edwin Land (founder of Polaroid)