[MD] Free Will

[X Acto]

>
>>Ron:
>> 2. Dynamic Quality is natural selection at work
> undefined betterness is natural selection
> on every level.

Dan:
Natural selection pertains to Darwin's theory of evolution, or in
other words, a metaphysics of substance, as RMP explains in LILA. Here
are a couple quotes:

"Phaedrus thought this was why no one before had ever seemed to have
come up with the idea that the world is primarily value. The word is
too vague. The "value" that holds a glass of water together and the
"value" that holds a nation together are obviously not the same thing.
Therefore to say that the world is nothing but value is just
confusing, not clarifying."

"Biological man doesn't invent cities or societies any more than pigs
and chickens invent the farmer that feeds them. The force of
evolutionary creation isn't contained by substance. Substance is just
one kind of static pattern left behind by the creative force."

Dan comments:

Within the framework of the MOQ, biological quality, or Dynamic
natural selection, is not the same as social quality, or the Dynamic
force of celebrity. The the levels have almost nothing in common other
than an evolutionary history.

Ron:
They are all forms of betterness, and freedom of choice which is what we are 
debating

Here's why:

"Survival of the fittest' is meaningful only when 'fittest' is equated 
with 'best,' which is to say, 'Quality.' And the Darwinians don't mean just 
any old quality, they mean undefined Quality! As Mayr's article makes clear, 
they are absolutely certain there is no way to define what that 'fittest' is.
Good! The 'undefined fittest" they are defending is identical to Dynamic 
Quality. 

Natural selection is Dynamic Quality at work." Lila

"Dynamic Quality is not structured and yet it is not chaotic. 
It is value that cannot be contained by static patterns. What 
the substance-centered evolutionists were showing with their 
absence of final 'mechanisms' or 'programs' was not an air-tight 
case for the biological goallessness of life. What they were 
unintentionally showing was a superb example of how values 
create reality."Lila

Ron comments:
Natural selection is Dynamic Quality at work. What they were 
unintentionally showing was a superb example of how values 
create reality.

Adding this:

"This division of all biological evolutionary patterns into a Dynamic function 
and a static function continues on up through higher levels of evolution."

Ron adds:
Concluding with this statement which is contradictory to your viewpoint Dan

"the shift in cell reproduction from mitosis to meiosis to permit sexual choice 
and 

allow huge DNA diversification is a Dynamic advance. So is the collective 
organization 

of cells into metazoan societies called plants and animals. So are sexual 
choice, symbiosis, death and regeneration, communality, communication, 
speculative thought, curiosity and art. Most of these, when viewed in a 
substance-centered evolutionary way are thought of as mere incidental
 properties of the molecular machine. But in a value-centered explanation 
of evolution they are close to the Dynamic process itself, pulling the pattern 
of life forward to greater levels of versatility and freedom."-Lila

He also says this concerning betterness, natural selection and intellectual
good which you say have nothing in common:

"We see that he's conducting his experiments for exactly the same purpose as 
the subatomic forces had when they first began to create him billions of years 
ago. He's looking for information that will expand the static patterns of 
evolution itself and give both greater versatility and greater stability 
against hostile static forces of nature. He may have personal motives such 
as 'pure fun,' that is, the Dynamic Quality of his work. But when he applies 
for funds he will normally and properly tie his request to some branch of 
humanity's overall evolutionary purpose."-Lila

He will tie it to the betterment of humanity

"Because Quality is morality. Make no mistake about it. They're identical. And 
if Quality 

is the primary reality of the world then that means morality is also the primary 
reality 

of the world. The world is primarily a moral order."-Lila

" The tests of truth 
are logical consistency, agreement with experience, and economy of explanation. 
The 

Metaphysics of Quality satisfies these."-Lila


And so does my explanation Dan, supported with quotes from THE MoQ in black and 
white read from Lila at your suggestion.

can we drop the smug now?