Re: [Marxism] The transition to capitalism: is it in our genes?

["Auguste Blanqui" <blanquist@xxxxxxxxx>]

That article's just Social Darwinism with a modern gloss.  There's
nothing in it that says x genetic trait translates into y behavior.
And genetic reductionism has a bad track record, the most prominent
recent examples being the so-called "gay gene" from years back and the
breast cancer genes (some who have them don't have breast cancer, and
a lot who have breast cancer don't have the genes.)

On 8/7/07, Sayan Bhattacharyya <ok.president+marxmail@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 8/7/07, Auguste Blanqui <blanquist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >  There's nothing that shows behavior is transmitted via genes.
>
> Really?
>
> Here's a reference (which I haven't read) which seems to suggest that
> it is not improbable:
>
> Hamilton, W. D. (1964) The genetical evolution of social behaviour.
> Journal of Theoretical Biology 7: 1-52.
>
> > And he
> > doesn't even get evolutionary theory right -- he's talking about a
> > dramatic change over the span of about a century!!!
>
> That could be enough time. See:
>
> "The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years
> has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast majority of peppered
> moths had light coloration, which effectively camouflaged them against
> the light-colored trees and lichens which they rested upon. However,
> due to widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in
> England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees which peppered
> moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the
> light-colored moths, or typica, to die off due to predation. At the
> same time, the dark-colored, or melanic, moths, carbonaria, flourished
> because of their ability to hide on the darkened trees."
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution>
>
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