"One can't be too humble"...Tom Stoppard, not Pynchon

[Joseph Tracy]

Really interesting conversation. I felt Stoppard had a powerful underlying challenge but was rather gummed up in getting it across. I thought Wilson was very persuasive that altruism while admirable for traditional human value systems, may  also be coded into nature as a pragmatic mechanism enhancing evolutionary survival and diversity. The assertion of Wilson’s I am most uncomfortable with is of all human functionality, and essentially  of all physical functionality, being mechanistic. 
 It is a very weird metaphor or analogy to be insistent about.  One could easily argue that quantum reality is more analogous to the metaphors of  vitalism and intrinsic spark than to a machine which by definition is a created/designed tool for use by a shaping intelligence.  

> On May 29, 2015, at 8:06 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> https://evolution-institute.org/article/the-playwright-and-the-scientist-a-conversation-between-tom-stoppard-and-david-sloan-wilson/?utm_content=buffer37894&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l