[MD] Evolution

[david buchanan]

Dan said:
 Natural selection pertains to the biological level. There is no choice involved. The fittest survive to pass on those survival traits while the less fit hit an evolutionary dead end. At the biological level, the environment seems to determine the fittest.

dmb says:
Well, there is that section in chapter 11 of Lila where Pirsig describes the role of "spur of the moment decisions" that direct the progress of evolution as "in fact, Dynamic Quality itself. DQ, the source of all things, the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality, always appears as 'spur of the moment.' Where else could it appear?" (142)

These decisions are not made deliberately in the human sense, of course, but are choices made within whatever range of possible action is available to the evolving species in question. I mean, a rat will get off the hot stove too. Hopefully.