• Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      This is from Darwin, I think. It describes the mechanism of selection in evolution: the organisms that are better adapted to their environments are the ones more likely to survive.

      Bady likely hates it because it’s often misused, by transforming it in a prescriptive statement (from “the fittest survives” to "the fittest deserves to survive) and/or ignoring that what’s considered the fittest depends on the environment (e.g. a fish isn’t fit in a dry environment, but a cactus isn’t fit in the sea).

        • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Social “Darwinism” relies on the fallacy that I mentioned, where you treat a descriptive statement as if it was prescriptive. (And yes, it’s nasty.)

    • irmoz@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Fittest means most suited to the environmwnt, not necessarily strongest, fastest, smartest etc