Benjamin Cain
1 min readApr 25, 2021

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It's interesting that you point out that the human selection of our environment with technologies like genetic engineering is a "distortion" of nature. You likewise say that social Darwinism is a perversion of Darwin's theory of natural selection.

But why shouldn't the two distortions go together? Why wouldn't a species that surpasses biological norms in one respect--by using technology to transcend natural environments, creating highly artificial niches in cyberspace and higher realms of thought--surpass also animalistic behaviours at the social level? Why wouldn't such distorters speak of higher ideals of power, total domination, or perhaps universal compassion or artistic excellence which have nothing to do with the animal world?

Perhaps the question is how natural we're supposed to be. If we're not so animalistic in our obsession with technology, we shouldn't expect ourselves to be purely primitive in our social relationships. You come down hard on "social Darwinism" (i.e. on white supremacy), but you only gesture vaguely towards a criticism of our "distortion" of natural selection in our technological transformation of the game of life.

We might want to think more about that tension.

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Benjamin Cain
Benjamin Cain

Written by Benjamin Cain

Ph.D. in philosophy / Knowledge condemns. Art redeems. / https://benjamincain.substack.com / https://ko-fi.com/benjamincain / benjamincain8@gmailDOTcom

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