Dankfinger Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 So, What is the evolutionary impact of evil? I know that one would argue it is not evolutionary but just an occurence of choice over instinct, but I think that is pretty wrong... Like atleast what are the evolutionary benefits and negative advantages? I imagine it is something to the extent of a evolutionary blocker of 'too much good' like with inbreeding... Or it is just like a cancer hanging onto humanity from there having been huge survival advantages at times in being 'evil' or cheating and stealing from others ect... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufofrog Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Evil is a human construct, and I don't think it has too much impact. I think humans do have a big impact on evolution due to the level of extinctions that we are causing and will cause. But evil such as wars don't have the impact that the general human population does in habitat destruction and pollution to the worlds animal populations. Looking at the big extinction events of the past I don't know if humans can top those, but time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area54 Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 21 hours ago, Dankfinger said: So, What is the evolutionary impact of evil? I know that one would argue it is not evolutionary but just an occurence of choice over instinct, but I think that is pretty wrong... Like atleast what are the evolutionary benefits and negative advantages? I imagine it is something to the extent of a evolutionary blocker of 'too much good' like with inbreeding... Or it is just like a cancer hanging onto humanity from there having been huge survival advantages at times in being 'evil' or cheating and stealing from others ect... How do you define evil? Without knowing that, disection of your thesis is difficult. As @Bufofrogpoints out, evil is a human construct. Are you exploring the role of evil in human evolution only, or in all evolution? If all evolution, are you imagining organisms other than humans can practice evil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Fabian Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 In evolutionary biology there is no "evil" but there is a lot of thinking about cheating and how that plays out. Wikipedia has a reasonable summation, but if you are serious you will look to the linked sources. Social organisms often have ways of "policing" cheaters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MigL Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 Evil is a social construct, and, while social behaviour is an evolutionary effect, there is no evidence that its constructs have have an evolutionary cause or impact. Not everything has an evolutionary aspect; some of the sh*t, we just made up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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