Henry Kim
Henry Kim
Aug 22, 2017 · 1 min read

This is, in a sense, a dangerous animalistic statement. Even bacteria and plants are very good at achieving just enough “understanding” for survival, in a sense, better than humans. The achievement of human social evolution is that the survival of individuals is sufficiently guarded by the sociality that individuals, freed from the need to provide for immediate survival for themselves, can seek first the truth, and later, the science. (a more primordial version of John Adams quote about politics and war, science, and arts). While an understanding of survival taking precedence over truth and science is desirable, we want to think of ways so that we can do better than just merely survive, but to produce enough “surplus” in security that we have time for truth and understanding. I suspect deprivation of this surplus is why civilizations collapse.

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    Henry Kim

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    Henry Kim