question for evolutionists

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Originally posted by the cat:
How does one come to terms with a theory like selfish gene theory?

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... never felt the need to 'come to terms with it.'

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I am wondering about how all this makes people FEEL as well as what they think - cos i know how it made me feel when i first came across it............pretty depressed, like life had become futile and meaningless.

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Life is no different than it was before.

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...all these things just seemed so profound and like within everything there was the key to the meaning of it all...

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Ah.... yes, young jedi! The Dark Night of the Soul.

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but neither can i sit comfortably with his theory.

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I don't get it. What is there that is so threatening about the selfish-gene idea, assuming it is correct?

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It's just become that now when i look at nature, which was always my sanctuary, i can only see how all it's beauty has arisen from cut throat competition!

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You cheer at sports events, yes?------------------
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Originally posted by the cat:
Thanks for your reply! the Jedi bit - could you explain and sorry to be thick but i've never seen Star Wars!

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Well the Jedi bit is sort-of meaningless. It is a juvenile way to say 'you are starting to get it but you have a long way to go and the road kinda sucks.'"The Dark Night of the Soul" is a book by Saint John of the Cross in which he describes the collapse of hope. It is a trip through utter darkness and despair.

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but in nature, competition is the fight for life!

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Yup. Always has been.

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What i find threatening about selfish gene theory is that, competition aside, the theory is not just about 'selfishness' but about the development of a disregard for life in all organisms unless it is kin - ie unless that life has the same or similar genes to itself.

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Consider. Pretend we have an utter disreguard for life and slaughter everything to feed our kids, and clear cut the forests for shelter. What happens? We die soon thereafter. The bacteria eat us and life continues. The system is self balancing. We happen to be smart enough to know how to not commit suicide in such manner, but I am not sure if we are smart enough to actually do so.

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now it would appear that animals kill the babies of others so that their own offspring will perpetuate.

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Yes, some animals do, including humans. Infanticide is very common in history.

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what sort of intelligence is that?!

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Indeed.

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so to me the threat is that i cannot 'escape' to nature anymore

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Why? Its fascinating-- vicious and beautiful at once.

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it's not the thing i thought it was

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But it is what it always was...

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the theory of which i speak appears to suggest that there is no inherent morality in nature

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Inherent morality? I propose to you that what you consider 'morality' is drawn from nature, from experience, from life. Though you may not realize it. It is a shift of perspective really. We are taught, I was anyway, that morality is an absolute thing, an essense. When actually, it is just behavior codified.------------------
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