I saw a documentary yesterday which left a bitter after taste. It was on the price equation, a mathematical description of evolution and natural selection [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_equation[/url] Love, kindness, empathy, altruism it explained aren't respect worthy human traits, but on the contrary reflections of a selfish human nature furthering survival of the species, easily calculable and foreseeable with a simple equation.
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Thread: Price Equation
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28-09-09, 09:13 AM #1
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Price Equation
Don't cry, don't regret and don't blame
Weak find the whip, willing find freedom
Towards the sun, carry your name
In warm hands you are given
Ask the wind for the way
Uncertainty's gone, your path will unravel
Accept all as it is and do not blame
God or the Devil
~Born to Live - Mavrik~
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29-09-09, 05:29 AM #2
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Mean, mean monkeys. All of us.
Spammer Spanker
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29-09-09, 07:47 AM #3
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I feel sorry for the kid studying things like this in the future. Learning that everything that's good and decent in life is a result of selfishness. Suddenly the good and the bad become each other's equals.
Don't cry, don't regret and don't blame
Weak find the whip, willing find freedom
Towards the sun, carry your name
In warm hands you are given
Ask the wind for the way
Uncertainty's gone, your path will unravel
Accept all as it is and do not blame
God or the Devil
~Born to Live - Mavrik~
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29-09-09, 07:48 AM #4
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Sanctuary approves of this message.
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29-09-09, 07:51 AM #5
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Well would you believe that there's no such thing as a truly altruistic act?
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29-09-09, 07:51 AM #6
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Mish. Just b/c you can predict petals on a flower with a Fibonacci sequence doesn't make the flower any less pretty.
Second thoughts can generally be amended with judicious action; injudicious actions can seldom be recovered with second thoughts.
--Cyteen by C.J.Cherryh
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29-09-09, 08:00 AM #7
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Maybe it's more to do with the language used in the documentary. I think they quoted (Hamilton?) saying that he wouldn't sacrifice his life for his brother, but he would for two brothers or eight cousins because using another equation he calculated this will have a high degree of reproduction potential of genes of same characteristic as his. He explained that altruism has nothing to do with actually caring for people, but ensuring replication of one's genes. I strongly disagree with that conclusion, but I'm not a biologist so who am I to argue.
Originally Posted by IndiReloaded
Don't cry, don't regret and don't blame
Weak find the whip, willing find freedom
Towards the sun, carry your name
In warm hands you are given
Ask the wind for the way
Uncertainty's gone, your path will unravel
Accept all as it is and do not blame
God or the Devil
~Born to Live - Mavrik~
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29-09-09, 08:48 AM #8
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This isn't a new idea, Mish, just the attempt to quantify. Which, in science, means somebody's funding is on the line and they are trying to make their 'scientific mark'.
There's a whole lot of people applying combinatorics to all sorts of biologic questions. Bioinformatics is a 'hot field' these days. Its not quite the same as what you post, but its related. While its not meaningless, its what I said about Fibonacci & Flowers. Read about Dawkins Selfish Gene from the 70s. If still interested, most libraries will carry the book. These things are just an attempt to explain certain things about evolution, its not meant to be a commentary on morals.Second thoughts can generally be amended with judicious action; injudicious actions can seldom be recovered with second thoughts.
--Cyteen by C.J.Cherryh
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29-09-09, 09:52 AM #9
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U + ME = Us. Calculus and Basic Addition.
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29-09-09, 10:25 AM #10
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The Selfish Gene is one of my favorite books of all time and imma finish before Kanye West stops me. Originally Posted by IndiReloaded
No, that's basic arithmetic. Originally Posted by CocoChanel
Calculus would be "I wish I was your derivative so I could lie tangent to all your curves."
There's also trigonometry - "I wish I was sin²ø and you were cos²ø so that together we could be 1."
I'm a nerd!
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29-09-09, 10:43 AM #11
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What exactly do math nerds know about love?
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29-09-09, 11:45 AM #12
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An ad hominem argument against evolutionary biologists does nothing to establish your claim. Originally Posted by doppelgaenger
In other words, **** you.
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29-09-09, 12:00 PM #13
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It wasn't an argument, but a serious inquiry; what exactly do math nerds know about love, outside of their little formulae?
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29-09-09, 12:03 PM #14
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I always liked this one:
Mathematician: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, and by induction - every odd integer higher than 2 is a prime. (Oops)
Physicist: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is an experimental error, 11 is a prime,...
Engineer: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a prime, 11 is a prime,...
Programmer: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime,...
Computer Software Salesperson: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 will be prime in the next release,...
Finance company CEO: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 11 is a prime,...
Lawyer: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 -- there is not enough evidence to prove that it is not a prime,...
Professor: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and the rest are left as an exercise for the student.
Second thoughts can generally be amended with judicious action; injudicious actions can seldom be recovered with second thoughts.
--Cyteen by C.J.Cherryh
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29-09-09, 01:49 PM #15
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Lol. Originally Posted by doppelgaenger
It wasn't an argument, but a serious inquiry; what exactly do math nerds know about love, outside of their little formulae?
lol don't like your depiction of lawyers. Originally Posted by IndiReloaded
Lawyer: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 -- it is in the greater interest of society that we alter the definition of a prime to accommodate numbers like 9
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