In “Evolution’s Sweet Tooth,” (New York Times, June 5, 2012) human evolutionary biologist Daniel E. Liebermanallows us to know – in defense of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on big gulp soda pop:
We humans did not evolve to eat healthily and go to the gym; until recently, we didn’t have to make such choices. But we did evolve to cooperate to help one another survive and thrive. Circumstances have changed, but we still need one another’s help as much as we ever did. For this reason, we need government on our side, not on the side of those who wish to make money by stoking our cravings and profiting from them. We have evolved to need coercion.
Of course it was bound to come to this, and we owe the prof thanks for making it clear.
What humans evolved to need is character. Modern government, however, has evolved to attract politicians and bureaucrats who want to coerce citizens. And academics like Lieberman who are only too happy to encourage them. But we can still vote.
See also: Mayor Bloomberg makes big deal of later-discredited Ida fossil. (It tells you a lot that he saw no reason to wait for professional paleontologists to rule on Ida’s authenticity. Darwinism is truer than facts.)