From: Phil Goetz (philgoetz@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2005 - 10:17:38 MST
--- Thomas Buckner <tcbevolver@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Nothing a
> spider can do is right or wrong, while an ant has
> a clear role it must play in a successful colony.
>
> I'm not trying to equate people with ants, but I
> guess I did anyway. And I'll stand by that
> comparison insofar as I consider unethical
> behavior to be wrong specifically because it is
> bad for the hive.
I like the point about the spider.
A problem with comparing humans to ants is that,
because of the fact that most ants are sterile,
individual ants are not the unit of selection
in evolution. When talking about ethics/morality,
particularly when looking at how it relates
to evolution, the "individual" should be a unit
of selection. This could better be the ant
colony, unless you are looking at drones or queens.
- Phil
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