This is a linkpost for http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2017/03/dreaming-of-political-bayescraft/
The colonialism and use of violence in the past is why you enjoy the life you do today.
Maybe so. Also, the single-celled-ness of my distant ancestors was an essential step to the form of life I now have; their primitivity is (part of) why I enjoy the life I do today. This observation doesn't in the least lead me to wish I were a single-celled life form, nor to see single-celled life forms as somehow my superiors, nor to anticipate a future reversion to single cells in my descendants.
If your suggestion is that since some of my ancestors were skullcrushers and I wouldn't be here without them I should look back with admiration to my skullcrushing ancestors, or that I should expect my successors to return to skullcrushing, then I would be interested to know why the argument doesn't apply equally to unicellularity.
I would be interested to know why the argument doesn't apply equally to unicellularity.
I apologize for a misunderstanding. My argument was not that one should "expect [their] successors to return to skullcrushing." It is that, as skull-crushing was an essential part of our evolution, it makes sense that we still have that latent impulse. Think sex.
I ... have never crushed anyone's skull for power and wealth ... and I'm not sure I know anyone who has
The people who actively "skull-crush" for power and wealth are largely tribes of p...