Paper
Response to Van Rensselaer Potter, "Getting to the Year 3000: Can Global Bioethics Overcome Evolution's Fatal Flaw?"
Published Jan 7, 2015 · J. Gustafson
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
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Abstract
Van Rensselaer Potter's article is based on a scientific theory that is stated as follows: "[I]n pursuing perfect adaptation the evolutionary process has built into each member of the human species an instinct for short-term gains. . ." [I]. This is evolution's fatal flaw. The article contains an argument over the causes of extinctions in which Potter pits his evidences from essential metabolites against Stephen J. Gould's work based on paleontological evidences [2]. Potter and Gould may disagree about what would be a sufficient causal account ofextinctions, but Gould would no doubt agree with the inference (with its elided premises) that Potter draws, namely, "that no prescient individual committee, religion, or private organization has so far been able to conceive or effect a cultural milieu that could adequately balance the short-term instincts of human individuals with the long-range needs of the species" [I]. This observation would be cast in different terms by different persons but would be supported by a large number of representatives from various scientific and social scientific disciplines, philosophical and religious traditions, journalism, and the general public. One does not need to agree with Potter's diagnosis to agree with his historical observation. Interestingly, the appeal Potter makes to restrain the effects of the fatal flaw is a cultural one, not a biological one. It is an appeal to recruit true believers to the goal of Global Bioethics. These believers would have knowledge, vision, and power to affect policy which will preserve the long-range interests of the species in a way that protects human freedom and dignity and preserves the natural environment. Potter does not propose a biological solution to what, if I understand him
Evolution's fatal flaw, but a cultural solution, involving true believers in Global Bioethics, to balance human short-term needs with long-range species needs.
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