Reading Darwin In College

Charles Darwin (1871) The Descent of Man, 1st edition, pages 168 -169:

The great break in the organic chain between man and his nearest allies, which cannot be bridged over by any extinct or living species, has often been advanced as a grave objection to the belief that man is descended from some lower form; but this objection will not appear of much weight to those who, from general reasons, believe in the general principle of evolution. Breaks often occur in all parts of the series, some being wide, sharp and defined, others less so in various degrees; as between the orang and its nearest allies—between the Tarsius and the other Lemuridae between the elephant, and in a more striking manner between the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna, and all other mammals. But these breaks depend merely on the number of related forms which have become extinct. At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.

I received a comment attempting to explain the above passage - my comments are in between the ***   ***

 This passage (and a number of others from The Descent of Man) is often used by creationists to attack evolutionary theory.

***Many people attack evolutionary theory, not just the odious creationists.  That is akin to arguing the nazis attacked stalinism.  Plenty of people of all stripes attack stalinism, as they do evolution theory.***

 I won't mount a full-scale defense of Darwin here, but I can tell you that the inferred bigotry in this passage is understandable, but in truth Darwin was much more progressive than the majority of his scientific peers.

***Irrelevant.***

In fact, at the time, polygenism was broadly supported in the scientific community, while Darwin was staunchly monogenist and frequently went against conventional wisdom by asserting that all humans were genetically the same species.

***There are many versions of Darwinism and evolution, and even Darwin had to keep recasting his hypothesis as counter arguments surfaced. Again irrelevant. ***

 If anything, his views were very progressive for the era and much closer to our own. 

***Perhaps your own, but certainly not mine.***

This passage, by the way, is not about racial inferiority (although I can see why it would set off alarm bells today), it is about the growing gap between humans of all kinds and their nearest non-human relatives.

***Not true: he states his thesis -

“The great break in the organic chain between man and his nearest allies, which cannot be bridged over by any extinct or living species, has often been advanced as a grave objection to the belief that man is descended from some lower form; “

He is merely addressing an objection to evolution due to the existence of gaps, nothing about “growing gaps.” ***

When you ask why they teach "it" in schools, I assume you mean Darwinian thought on natural selection. The reason why they teach Darwin is pretty obvious: Natural selection is not just a popular hypothesis, it's accepted as truth by the entire scientific community. 

***Simply not true, I’ve met countless scientists who consider it hokum.  I am a consumer of science, and I’ve passed on it since it does not measure up to science. Accepting a hypothesis as truth is religion, not science.***

There are disagreements on some elements of evolutionary theory, but literally no scientist has suggested that natural selection is unsupported. And Darwin's work is historically a game-changing moment for science and our understanding of the natural world, so yes, it should be taught. 

***Which version should be taught?***

One additional note: You're citing "The Decent of Man," which is not the source of most classroom lessons on Darwin; that would be "On the Origin of Species," which was published over a decade earlier and did not address any of the potentially offending language above. 

***The cited passage was written by Darwin in response to objections to the earlier versions.  It reflects considered and deliberate expression on the part of Darwin.  Darwin was clarifying his earlier work, and emphasizing that the theory argued the inevitability of the extermination of the negro and the Australian (meaning those some call aborigines.) This has given much comfort to progressives who need a theory for who lives and dies. For example, progressive and celebrated author and playwrite George Bernard Shaw.***

By the way, even if he had been obtusely bigoted, his scientific writing shouldn't be purged from classrooms. There are plenty of slave-owning (and likely horribly racist) Founding Fathers in American history, and we trust students to separate their great thoughts from their despicable observations on race. This is not a new issue.

***The founding fathers struggled mightily to eliminate the evil of slavery, even the slaveholding ones. The claim is science is behind this, and there is no effort, nor should be, to eliminate this odious teaching.  It is offensive enough to cause one student, a negro to be eliminated under this theory, to throw it all away in a classroom rant. Scientific racism is not a new issue.***

If anyone actually read Darwin, they might understand her despair.

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Counterfeit Wine In China

Note the comment at the end:

The most common form of deception consists of tweaking a label ever so slightly to trick consumers into thinking they're buying a name brand. Makers of these impostors sell in the open at wine exhibitions, renting booths alongside the legitimate competition.

But of course, in Asia forgery is just another art form, and the consumer gets what he paid for.  if your forgery is so good that no one can tell the difference, then your forgery is worth the price of an original.  But isn't that fraud?  It is because we say so in the West, as a matter of our patterns and practices in business.  But is is not objectively wrong, if forgery is a matter of patterns and practices in business, as it is in China.  Hence,  there is nothing objectionable about what we call a forger, but the Chinese call talent, showing their works next to the real McCoy.

Here is a Reuters video on the topic...

Yet there is demand for the real thing.  The market can provide that, especially now with the improvements in communication wrought by the internet.  opportunities abound.

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Have You Read Darwin?

Charles Darwin (1871) The Descent of Man, 1st edition, pages 168 -169:

The great break in the organic chain between man and his nearest allies, which cannot be bridged over by any extinct or living species, has often been advanced as a grave objection to the belief that man is descended from some lower form; but this objection will not appear of much weight to those who, from general reasons, believe in the general principle of evolution. Breaks often occur in all parts of the series, some being wide, sharp and defined, others less so in various degrees; as between the orang and its nearest allies—between the Tarsius and the other Lemuridae between the elephant, and in a more striking manner between the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna, and all other mammals. But these breaks depend merely on the number of related forms which have become extinct. At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.

This is why I never cared for the hypotheses Darwin laid out.  If you actually read it, it is pretty obnoxious stuff.  I wonder why they teach it in schools.

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Retail Outlets

These have been around a while, and this I saw at LAX.  In essence it is a candy machine for hi-tech electronics in the $50 - $500 price range: Sony PYP players, Apple goodies and Bose headphones.  You put in your credit card, push B7, and down drops an iPod touch.

This particular machine is branded Best Buy, but I've seen some merely generic versions, such as the one to the left of the Stockton street door of Macy's Mens in San Francisco. I note this to merely point out things change, and if these vending machines become the standard means for retailing hi-tech electronics in a certain price range, then whoever runs these is your customer.

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Immigration Reform

When the waves of boat people arrived, many rented out space in the worst of the worst places in Seattle to set up shop.  They grew, and were obliged to use tarps to expand their shop space.

They worked on paper thin margins to trade in items of good value.  For example, in the USA we by law throw away about 40% of our produce, so we can keep the prices high to protect the profits of the lazy as we make food more scarce than it need be.  Somehow this outfit gets that fruit and produce and sells it.   But after years of blood, sweat and tears, they have enough money to build a first rate facility.

The only immigration reform that matters is to respect real property rights.

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An Interest In Haiti's Poverty

The situation is excellent in Haiti.

Haiti appears to be a perpetual economic basket case.  In his excellent survey, The Economics and Politics of Race, Thos. Sowell notes his research that shows among populations of African American descent, those who came to USA citizenship via British slave colonies tend to do well versus those who came via French slavery tend to do poorly in economic terms.  Indeed, compare Haiti vs Bermuda today.

A plausible argument is British colonialists shared power, and the French will not, therefore former slaves of the Brits at least learned capitalistic self-government, whereas the French former slaves got nothing.

In the case of Haiti, it is worse.  After the slave revolt and atrocities that followed, in which no one was immune, the powers that came out on top in Haiti agreed to a debt for loss of capital in exchange for France recognizing Haiti as a nation.  Here again, violence just made things worse, and instead of terrible French oppression, the Haitians received far worse local oppression.

After paying off that debt by eliminating schools and other social amenities, and oppressing the local population far worse than the French, the Haitian elite contracted with USA companies to modernize their country with railroads.  Shoddy workmanship led to disputes, disputes led to US Marines invading and robbing the banks.

Think about this:  you want to make a donation to a country like Haiti to help out, say a hospital or a school or some agricultural demonstration project.  So you put a million into infrastructure, and an endowment of $50 million to keep the school or hospital or project going.  In time, the western capitalists snare the lackeys they have in the Haitian government in some unrepayable loan, so among all of the other things seized, is your donation and its endowment.  Any donation you make will just end up in the coffers of Wall Street.  Why bother?

Haiti still has not recovered.  Haiti's infrastructure has been wiped out.  Haitians have learned from the last earthquake that they are on their own, their state provides no benefit, and US Military intervention is no help.  This is an excellent foundation for reorganizing society on a more just basis.  Haitians can learn from Hong Kong and Switzerland and Andorra and Singapore, and reform as a nation built on free trade.  As freedom ebbs from USA, it finds expression elsewhere.  Why not Haiti?  Haiti - le Noir Hong Kong!

But what is the source of the oppression?  Is it racism?  Is it social injustice?  Is it lack of infrastructure?  No, it always goes back to interest payments, which are the legal tool to oppress people.  A fundamental rule in any new constitution would be interest payments are not enforceable debts.  Eliminate that tool, and the capitalists have no power.  Freedom rises.

Haiti is a Catholic country, and its condition is a disgrace to any follower of Jesus.  The Catholic church condemns and forbids usury (what we commonly call interest payments.)  Their bishops are charged with teaching, and teaching the Church's condemnation of usury would be well placed in Haiti.  Of course a religion is voluntary so it may only propose, never impose.  That Haitians need only make usury legally unenforceable to be free to oppression, they need not forbid it themselves.

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Worker Exploitation at Style Avenue, San Salvador

Or not.

Last June I wrote a post on exploited labor with a hat tip to a "worker-rights" services entrepreneur.  I've come across another group with plenty of documentation.  The website has two large and one small complaint.  The small one is too whimsical to not note: among litany of complaints the American inquired after, one was as to whether the workers ever got pizza or hamburgers.  No?  Never?  That is as obtuse as a  Russian interviewer surprised American workers never get pelmeni.  What?  Never?!

Anyway, aside from that wee amusement, the rest of the article is well documented.  What I said about Chia Abad above I would say here as well.

Let me stress labor unrest is to be hailed.  Japan, Korea, indeed, USA all had labor unrest on its way to a vibrant economy.  Now, that does not mean we have to believe the stories, of view the circumstances, even if accurate, from our perspective.  What must be true, is these worker be able to agitate without the powers that be in that country able to draw on USA power, techniques and equipment (like CS gas) to suppress worker agitation.

If the authors of this website desired to be effective, they ought to spend their time lobbying USA government to withdraw the assistance to the regime than organize the workers to resist, or to cut off their market in USA.  I am sure of one thing, these workers being interviewed do NOT want the orders from USA to stop coming to their factory.

And both the factory owners and the workers would both like to develop the capability to trade up to more complex, profitable items to make, like Japan and China have done.  Killing the market in USA for what they make now is unlikely to get them there.

Which gets to another damning document, what the USA buyers pay the Salvadoran suppliers for the garments.  Not much.

The owners of the Salvadoran factories would like to get as much as possible.  The owners know exactly what the Americans will pay, and exactly what price at which the American will go elsewhere.  You can be sure the margins are tight.

Now there may be an unsaid dimension not reflected in the documents. Money laundering and tax avoidance are big motivators in USA.  It is not uncommon for buyers to pay nominally high prices for items that do not cost so much.  For example, a shirt may cost $1.00 to make with the worker paid 10 cents.  And say the manager must charge $1.25 to make it worth his time to come to work and organize the labour etc.  And quotes accordingly.  Now sometimes, some Americans will say, charge me $5.00 per shirt, and put $3.75 of what I pay you in my swiss bank account.  Now all of the official documents say $5.00.  And the worker gets 10 cents.  On paper it appears to be an outrage, when it is nothing of the sort.  I must stress I have no idea what the situation is in this case, I am only saying documents do not tell you very much.  Forensically these things can be learned, and I do not see any forensics applied to these documents.  Therefore, ho hum.

What is the right approach, besides getting the USA power base out of there?  Never agitate, a low grade form of violence, communicate.  Look at what resources there are, what opportunity abound, and work out an agreement, pay as you go...  "Sr. Jefe, luggage brings in more than clothes, if we learn luggage sewing and you will make more, will you pay us more?"  Sounds simplistic, but in a complex process each side must perform step by step, and elaborate pas de deux.  Workers who manage themselves can work their way up.

Managers who get nothing but grief from workers are disinclined to attempt bigger and better things.  More liberal workers would be an encouragement to Sr. Jefe.  This is the way.

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The Gift of ADD/ADHD

Q. How many ADD kids does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. Did you see that dog?

I've mocked the ADD conceit here many times, and now comes and article that talks about this gift without over mentioning ADD?  Do you suppose someone realized drugging kids does NOT help?

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Public Service Ads - Crowdsourced

One way the powers that be enforce social conditioning is through PSAs, (public service ads), those ads brought to you by the ad council and "this station.." or whoever.  Since the government seized control of the invention of radio on the pretense of making for an orderly use of radio waves they dictate what will be on the air.  We have generations socially conditioned along the most unfortunate lines.

Now comes crowdsourced PSAs.  Yippee Yiyay!  Look at what social evil they go after in this ad...

Public service ads in the precise measure needs be addressed.  And pid for those who think it needs to be said, without a burden on the taxpayer.

What do you think needs to be said...?  Get your ad out there...!

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