[MD] Oneness, Dualism & Intellect

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Platt]
I see evolution continuing at the intellectual level, but not the lower levels.
No doubt "the visible manifestation of Quality" is in the static values that DQ
has left in its wake. But today, in this very discussion, I observe intellect
in the throes of evolutionary progress. I don't observe that happening in the
inorganic, biological or social levels. 

[Arlo]
The point I was trying to make is that evolution, in the large macro-sense you
seem to consider, is impossible to "observe". An Australopithecines would never
to be able to "observe" the macro-level evolution that would transform him/her
into us. From any point in time, it "appears" that (macro-)evolution has
stopped.

I think the changes you see in "intellect" is comparable to the mutations Ron,
Ian and Horse are describing. The micro-level evolutions are the ground-stuff
of the large macro-level evolutions that transcend any observable perspective
other than retrospective. That is, I can't observe how the human is evolving on
a level of change as between Australopithecines and "me", only retrospectively
can I see the larger pattern of evolutionary change brought about by small,
seemingly "insignificant" micro-evolutionary movement.

Recall that Pirsig had said, "My own opinion is that the intellect of modern man
isn’t that superior. IQs aren’t that much different. Those Indians and
medieval men were just as intelligent as we are, but the context in which they
thought was completely different." This would seem to indicate that the
"intellectual level" has not "evolved" in our observable time to the same depth
as the evolutionary difference between Australopithecines and "us". It
undergoes micro-adaption and evolution, sure, but even on the intellectual
level we don't "observe" macro-level evolutionary changes. 

[Platt]
The human psyche is attracted to negativity -- the instinctive rubber necking at
the scene of an accident.

[Arlo]
We called these a "gaper's delay" in Chicago.