I'm a freelance writer from a frighteningly charming little town in Indiana.

My passion is ...

Philosophy, specifically Russell (genius), Nietzsche (insane, but insightful), and Camus (who finished off the subject). Pierre Bourdieu, a sociologist, has also influenced my philosophy of life.

I know too much about ...

Nothing.

My parents always told me ...

Before tearing down a fence, find out why it was constructed to begin with.

My childhood ambition ...

To live up to the example set by Calvin and Hobbes.

My favorite memory ...

Any that I can retain into old age.

Why I write ...

Compulsion.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Reading an old book by Michael Crichton called "A Case of Need."

My first job ...

Unemployment.

My best moment ...

Still working towards it.

My inspiration ...

Music.

Sciences > Sociology Understanding social Darwinism

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Social Darwinism is based upon the popular notion of "survival of the fittest," in which fitness is mistaken for rightness. When scientists refer to fitness, they're talking about a process in which the genotype of the individual who reproduces the most becomes more common. The individual's phenotype, or genes plus environment, determine the individual's fitness.

And when we look at the environment portion of the phenotype, we see that evolution is random. When biologists like Richard Dawkins describe evolution as being non-random, what they mean is that natural selection does not do cr...

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