Morality of Nature

by David Sims MANY PEOPLE REGARD “fairness” (especially equality in treatment or in the apportionment of wealth) as the highest moral virtue, as morality’s sine qua non. They are wrong. In any proper moral system, the highest value is the survival of the practitioner group. The…

The final stages of a Cordyceps fungus infection of a wasp: The parasite controls the brain of its host, so that the wasp is compelled to climb to the top of a tree or other plant before the fruiting bodies of the parasite explode from its body, guaranteeing maximal dispersion of the parasite spores while…

by David Sims I HEAR THAT American science fiction author Orson Scott Card has opposed gay “marriage.” Good on him. I oppose homosexuality in all respects, not simply marriage only. I think that the professional psychologists got it right the first time: It’s a mental disorder,…

by David Sims IT WOULD BE wonderful, of course, if humans could stop working against each other and bring their resources to bear cooperatively on worthy tasks. The problem with that is that each subset of humanity seems to have its own value priorities. Most of those priorities are at variance with the…

by David Sims THERE ARE natural guidelines that make some moral codes better than others. Those guidelines don’t prevent someone from inventing and/or living by an inferior moral code, but they do impose consequences on people who do so. Morality is survival behavior above the individual level.…

by David Sims THE PERCEPTION OF gain or loss is related to survival. It’s an assessment of changes in the environment as being either good or bad. Good changes, or gains, mean we are better positioned to handle challenges to our survival. Bad changes, or losses, handicap us in dealing with the hardship…