Bradley Felton writes:
> The mindset that enables one to separate themselves from the herd offers
> more than just the ability to defend against an inter-species attack: when
> the lemmings march over the cliff, it's the socially disconnected who
> survive. That both strategies persist in nature (and in man) suggests that
> each have offered their share of success in the past, but the changes in
> our environment that we foresee in the near future could easily tip the
> balance heavily one way or the other. Whether the balance will tip, and
> which way: I haven't a clue--but for many of us the wager has long since
> been laid (in my case, I suspect it was at my conception...).
That's an interesting point. I would point to the increasing
inter-dependence of members of society as our world becomes
more complex, on the other side. Robin Hanson's article,
http://hanson.gmu.edu/dreamautarky.html, discusses the seeming paradox
that Extropians dream of a more individualistic society while we have
historically moved in the opposite direction.
The division of labor, trade, and specialization has been the foundation
of technological progress. If each person had to do everything for
himself, we'd still be in the stone age. My bet is that the man who can
work smoothly with his fellows is the one who has the survival advantage.
Hal
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