Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite
Could you elaborate on this? I don't understand how this fits into his theories or with neo-darwinism that came later.
Well, I suppose we do this in farming generally but I suspect it might be a little politically incorrect to suggest it for humans.
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I'm glad you asked because, and this is embarrassing, I totally flubbed what I said about Darwin. A quick perusal of his work showed me I completely (and unintentionally) misstated what he'd said about people with disabilities.
I was thinking of later work I read that talked about the survival benefits of empathy and compassion, and somehow misremembered it as something Darwin had said. Effectively, we are better served as being a species that cares about people that need support rather than a species that dumps anyone with more than a sprained ankle in the woods. Wizwor is still wrong but my response on that point was glib and off-the-cuff.
This does highlight a few things: (i) Darwin's evolutionary theory was groundbreaking at the time but far from complete; and (ii) it's good to be disagreed with so you can course correct.