Evolution and Devolution

V. EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION

So that we are not accused of overkill, let us acknowledge in advance that we know that the superior viability of Capitalism renders any arguments regarding human evolution superfluous and unnecessary, but we like to illustrate the connection between natural and economic laws.

1. No species, no matter how highly evolved, can go against nature in the long term without bringing about it's own destruction. Man, to survive, must arduously study the laws of nature, because he is the only species on Earth possessing the ability to temporarily violate them.

2. Some who have raised a lion and a lamb to lay down with each other have claimed that this is the natural way for these creatures. Of course it is, when people are giving the lion three big meals a day.

3. The truth seeker will reason deductively from universal principals to their proper application in specific instances. Those not at one with truth will usually reason backwards inductively from exceptional particular instances to false general premises.

4. The laws which govern human interaction are interwoven with the laws of the ecosphere, are every bit as mysterious, and like the latter, are far too complex to permit regulation of the consequences which proceed from them. Indeed, the affairs of men and of nature are one, and any attempt to unnecessarily regulate either is dangerous. One breech of natural law will produce a distortion which seems to call for yet another breech, and so on. The only way things can be "regulated" in a way consistent with survival on this planet is through a policy of non-interference with nature in the first place.

5. Man is an animal to be sure, but he is also something a bit more than just that. He is sometimes able to admit ignorance and, by his own volition, to develop himself intellectually and spiritually. By contrast, he also possesses the one characteristic which will allow him to deceive himself enough to destroy, first his liberty, then his environment, then himself, and that characteristic is rhetoric.

6. Rhetoric, in contrast to truth, is often used by the average individual to quickly rationalize the "rightness" of inaction relative to involvement in sweeping social change. Action in such areas might of course, interfere with activities of a frivolous nature, or even with pursuits of truly great and enduring human significance like ball games.

7. Congenital traits in human beings result from one of four known causes: heredity, random genetic mutation, intra-uterine conditions, or events during birth.

8. Notice how we refer to a quiet, serene baby as "good," and to a baby who cries all the time, as "bad." These casual labels reveal deeper truths.

9. Environment does not play the part in determining human behavior which many would like to believe. Intrinsic good moral character will often resist and win out against immoral upbringing in the long term. Sometimes good moral character will even temporarily over react, as in the case of the approach-avoidance conflict, where a cowardly parent will produce a war mongering child or vice versa in the short term, until life teaches maturity and balance.

10. We can all think of people, who from early childhood, manifest true seriousness and wisdom. We can also think of people, who even in advanced age, manifest only frivolity and low self-importance. One already knows much from the time of birth. The other learns almost nothing from a lifetime of experience. In a multi-media culture where we are all bombarded with vast amounts of information, these individual differences do not reflect the influence of environment alone. Let us note that those who think that society can be remade simply by changing peoples' environment for one generation, usually disgrace themselves further by advocating fanatical and un-Libertarian methods.

11. Natural selection is the principle that organisms manifesting physiological or behavioral traits having little survival value, will reproduce at a lesser rate than other organisms since they will not live long enough to do so. This will ultimately cause the trait to die out in the species, unless the particular organisms manifesting the non-surviving traits are given artificial sustenance that will prolong their lives and periods of reproduction.

12. Among non-human species, non-self-sustaining individuals are those, which for any reason, unable to behave in a way consistent with their own survival in the long term, in the context of a natural ecology relatively undisturbed by man. Nature eliminates such creatures through natural selection, and allows evolution to progress. Evolutionary progress depends just as much upon the non-breeding of these individuals, as upon the breeding of self-sustaining individuals.

13. When non-self-sustaining organisms are sustained artificially and end up reproducing when they would not otherwise, then evolution stops and devolution begins. Devolution is the reversal of evolution. The detriment to evolutionary destiny is even more greatly magnified if the evolutionary expression of self-sustaining organisms is encroached upon in the process.

14. Non-human species on Earth are evolving in directions different from man, and must be allowed to do so normally. Ironically, the primary danger to this occurs as the indiscriminate proliferation of humans begins to reflect man's interference with his own evolution. Allowing a non-human species to evolve normally does not entail finding a way to sustain the weak elements within that species, nor does it consist in murdering their natural predators because of the alleged "cruelty" with which these predators take their prey. It simply involves leaving them alone.

15. Predation of non-human species by man may strengthen or weaken a species, depending upon which members of the species are killed. This in turn, is often determined by the method of predation used. The outdoorsman or professional hunter should contemplate these matters deeply. Should not this ancestral joy in hunting also be available to future generations?

16. Among human beings, non-self-sustaining or unproductive individuals are those who lack the ability for whatever reason, to behave in a way which is consistent with their own survival in the long term under the conditions normally prevailing in a totally free society without having to make unjust encroachment upon other people or the environment.

17. Briefly stated, a self-sustaining or productive member of the human species is simply one who is capable of surviving in a perfectly free society without needing to make unjust incursion against the liberty of others.

18. Nature is able to systematically ascertain non self-sustaining members of animal species and to eliminate them through natural selection. Man is the only animal able to temporarily gainsay nature in this regard, because man is the only species whose unproductive members have ambitious champions possessing rhetoric.

19. It seems that among "nice" or "civilized" people, it is quietly and conveniently forgotten that evolution applies as much to humans as to any other species. Cowardly religions even falsely teach in many cases, that evolution is merely a theory. In actuality man has reached the point on the evolutionary ladder where he not only can, but to survive must, determine the direction of his own evolution. This can only be accomplished by working with nature, not against it.

20. Mankind will not survive if societies continue to be subsidized breeding farms for human non self-sustainability. Recognition of this does not mean that anybody needs to go hungry or starve. In a Libertarian Republic all people will live long happy lives. Ongoing sustenance of chronically unemployable people, however, can be provided much more efficiently by means other than coercive government. It is also possible through education to help these people to greatly curb the encroachment they make by excess reproduction.

21. It is important to note that in a collectivist society the number of truly non-self-sustaining people is always far fewer than would appear on the surface. The economic cycle caused by fiat monetary policy pulls down a tremendous number of people to a level of apparent non-self-sustainability. By getting rid of this one simple ecomic policy alone, unemployment would thereafter not exceed one percent except in cases of local catastrophe.

22. It has been empirically proven that, through natural selection, humanity was able to evolve from less complex forms only because nature offers no sustenance to non-self-sustaining organisms. In man's earlier development he was more at the mercy of nature than today

23. Man has not been able to cheat nature in the longer term. One effect of a warm climate and advancing medical science has been to endlessly thwart natural selection. This has devolved the human species both physically and intellectually. Cro Magnon Man was not only bigger and stronger than Homo Sapiens, but with an average IQ of 165, was a race of geniuses by comparison. The decline in intelligence which we enjoy today was produced by thirty thousand years of warm weather and easy living preceding the last Ice Age (19).

24. More intelligent people tend towards self-actualization at the expense of procreation. Less intelligent people are outbreeding more intelligent people everywhere (20). The diaries of the Roman Emperor-Historian Claudius show that this trend had became a matter of concern even in the time of Augustus, who spoke publicly about it. The problem is accelerating at a more rapid rate today. The excess proliferation of less intelligent humans must be seen as a direct encroachment against all life on this planet if any reasonable quality of life is to be preserved, or ultimately if humanity itself is to survive (21).

25. Because of the prevalence of collectivist ideas, and man's foolish presumption that he can ignore natural law, unproductive humans are protected from the consequences of their own actions. This allows them to reproduce at a rate which they would not be able to sustain ordinarily. Such people see a large number of children as their insurance policy for old age.

26. Experience has shown that when people are prosperous because of their own activity, as under a Libertarian Capitalist system, that they will restrict their numbers by their own volition. Non-self-sustaining individuals cannot survive without aid in the short term, or even in the long term, because they will indiscriminately increase their numbers to the point where even their protectors can no longer help them. When this happens, famine will cause far more suffering than would have been the case without protectionist interference in the first place.

27. Legislative measures to restrict birth rates among people at lower achievement levels have been proposed, are well thought out, and are technically workable (22). Of course, if we had Libertarian Capitalist economic systems in place, plus education in the schools about the problem of human devolution, such measures would never become necessary. If we are going to do something, however, we had better get on with it, because in just forty more years the population of Earth is going to double.

28. The highest of men on Earth are as much above the lowest, intellectually and spiritually, as the lowest are above the chimpanzees. Those who don't instinctively know this immediately identify themselves as being closer to the low end of the continuum.

29. What an individual learns in a lifetime is to some extent, passed on genetically. The forward progress of evolutionary expression is impeded if productive individuals are kept from learning by being sacrificed for unproductive individuals. Those who work diligently towards the devolution of life on Earth are being masochistic on a cosmic scale. The premise that excellence and evolutionary expression should be even slightly impeded to help sustain mediocrity is the beginning of the worst mistake which humanity could ever make.

30. The intelligent and capable "champion" promoting unjust encroachment by unproductive humanity, is the worst among them, because his inability to behave in a way which is consistent with his own, and our, survival in the long term, comes not from stupidity, but from deep moral inferiority. The truth will never reach these individuals, because they simply lack the capacity to comprehend any concept as exalted as evolutionary destiny.

31. It is a pity how vocal are the people who do not "believe" in the empirically proven fact of evolution, but who do endorse more or less evolutionary social policies. Mixing the ridiculous rhetoric of fanatical religiosity with Capitalist economics brings a popular perception of discredit upon economic truth because of guilt by association.