To the Editor:

Conservatives who believe a Darwinian view of human nature supports their policies are being very selective. True, our competitiveness and acquisitiveness make capitalism good for productivity, but we still have to rein in corporate greed, pollution, gun violence, militarism and other excesses.

Darwin’s brilliant theory of evolution by natural selection explains that we became what we are because, in the ancestral environment, traits that promoted survival and reproduction were passed on. Somehow, our brains grew big enough to give us our adaptability, inventiveness and morality.

Ever since, our cultures and technology have evolved much faster than our biology.

Our evolutionary past doesn’t tell us what choices we should make today; old strategies don’t always work in a new environment. Darwin himself had a strong moral sense and clearly saw that we had to transcend our animal natures to build a better world. Let’s hope our brains are big enough.

Gerald W. Neuberg, M.D.
Irvington, N.Y., May 7, 2007

Note from KBJ: It’s hilarious that progressives and conservatives are “fighting” over Darwin. “He’s mine, dammit!” “No, he’s mine!” Here are two books for your edification and enjoyment: Peter Singer, A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation; Larry Arnhart, Darwinian Conservatism. Think about the implications of fighting over Darwin. It means that Darwinism has prevailed. If your ideology is incompatible with Darwinism, it has no chance of success. Feminism may be the only ideology (other than religious fundamentalism) that has not come to grips with Darwinism, although certain feminists, such as Katharine K. Baker, are coming to the realization that it must do so in order to survive. See here. If an ideology can’t adapt, it dies.