Common Misconceptions

Reading the letters to the editor of my local paper I came across yet another case of a common misconception: that a natural state exists, where there is equilibrium and harmony between all living beings and Nature as a whole.

Bollocks. No such state exists. The real natural state is made of ruthless struggle for survival, brutal hunts, preys eaten alive and predators starving to death if they cannot inflict that brutality on a prey. It is made of untreated wounds and diseases, of no therapy for pain, exposure to all the worst of weather.

Violence is the norm and extinction a common occurrence. And some people think that humans are worse than the whole lot because we want to limit the population of some animals that, among other obnoxious things, weaken levees by digging their lairs? Morons.


Another common misconception regards evolution. A lot of folks think that evolution means going towards higher lifeforms - when humans are involved, they think evolution should go towards better morality. And "better" most often coincides with "more socialist/collectivist".

Bollocks, again. The ugly truth is:

EVOLUTION DOES NOT HAVE ANY GODDAMN THING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH HUMAN NOTIONS OF MORALITY, NO REALLY, NOT A SINGLE THING, IT HAD BEEN GOING ON BILLIONS OF YEARS BEFORE WE CAME ALONG AND CAME UP WITH ANY SUCH NOTIONS.

The main metric in evolution is reproductive success. The more individuals there are in your species, the better - and it does not matter how you reached that point; evolution is a purely amoral force.