The survival of the wisest

TLDR: Man Unfolding and The Survival of the Wisest offers a basis for the judgment of ethical principles, a basis from which ethics can be taught, seen within the broad perspective of the natural evolutionary process.

Abstract: These may be the most significant and provocative questions of our time. They are the central questions that Dr. Jonas Salk poses and explores in Man Unfolding and The Survival of the Wisest. In both works Salk draws upon his knowledge and understanding of biological systems to speculate upon the course of human metabiological evolution. Reasoning analogically, Salk compares the curve of human population growth as projected to the year 2000 to the sigmoid curve frequently observed in the population growth of other living systems. He concludes that if human population growth is to follow the sigmoid pattern, massive changes will occur within the next few decades not only in human behavior but also in the deeper attitudes and values that govern behavior. If a catastrophic loss of life is to be averted and the quality of life improved, a complete inversion of values will be required, as man moves from an epoch based upon the survival of the fittest, in the Darwinian sense, into an epoch ruled according to the wisdom of cooperation, an epoch in which the welfare of the individual and the welfare of the species are inextricably bound. In the emerging epoch, it will be not only desirable but also necessary to achieve "double-win" rather than "win-lose" resolutions to human conflicts. Seen within the broad perspective of the natural evolutionary process, ethical precepts can be evaluated and established according to their evolutionary value, biologically and metabiologically. Thus, amid an atmosphere of changing values, Salk offers a basis for the judgment of ethical principles, a basis from which ethics can be taught. ? Mary Ellen Diefenbach (Research associate in metabiology, Salk Institute for Biological Studies)