RE: Things that don't evolve

Please excuse, I'm not following how this relates to the topic. Are you saying, Don, that 'loans' or 'regulations' are examples of things that 'evolve' (into being or having become)? Or perhaps this connects with the idea that George Murphy suggested a few weeks ago that ethics in the Bible can be said to have evolved? I'm just trying to check if this isn't a tangent following a tangent from the main topic.
   
  Regards,
  G. Arago

"Donald Perrett (E-mail)" <donperrett@theology-perspectives.net> wrote:
      Intelligence of course does not directly translate to social behavioural changes. Certainly education has been shown to have some influence on human social evolution, but even then only marginally so. This may be more the result of the lack of overall educational increases within the global society. As for your comment on prohibition on interest, I take it you refer to loans. I agree to some degree that interest is unfortunately a integral part of the capitalist system of economics, but the regulation of interest holdings are not what they should be a present. Unchecked this can create a burden in the short term for those with loans, as pointed out by Pim. In the long run high interests can be a burden on the overall economic structure. Consumers with less money in pocket as the result of high interest rates can be just as negative to the economy as high taxation. There must be balance. Also in OT times much of what was recovered in the way of debt was through
 direct
 labor not direct monetary compensation. So a loaner would be more likely to have received a higher percentage of the loan amount and therefore interest was not needed as a buffer for unrecovered debts. In today's economy a much larger portion is needed to balance unrecovered debt and therefore higher rates are needed for those with higher risks of loan default. The downside is that frequently those with the higher risk of loan default are those already without (the poor). There needs to be a better system of granting loans and even perhaps corporate grants to those of lower incomes wishing to start businesses. Partnerships with those in lower income brackets would help to encourage self economic development among the poorer communities.
   
   
  Don P
    -----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On Behalf Of D. F. Siemens, Jr.
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 13:38
To: gregoryarago@yahoo.ca
Cc: pleuronaia@gmail.com; asa@calvin.edu; dopderbeck@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Things that don't evolve

  Thanks for pulling these things together. However, I'm not sure that all these matters have been thought through. For example, I read recently that human beings are still evolving, specifically in the genes that affect intelligence. So there is apparently greater understanding. This means change over time in understanding--what have been called memes.
   
  As to morality, change in society requires different rules. Some matters remain, like "Do not murder" (misstated as "Do not kill"). But the prohibition on interest had to give way. Also, there was no attempt 10,000 years or so ago to protect large mammals or the environment, but ecology is currently one of the moral imperatives that have been discussed on this list and at ASA meetings.
  Dave
   
  On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:20:33 -0500 (EST) Gregory Arago <gregoryarago@yahoo.ca> writes:
    Let me gather together some of the ideas expressed in the posts on this topic thus far. Please excuse that I cannot keep up with the conversation always in 'real time' since I'm in time zone GMT +3. I found the comments interesting and helpful.
   
  "All aspects of the physical universe are evolving. Irreversibility is the name of the game! ... Humans are both physical and nonphysical. The physical aspect does evolve; however, you are right that the nonphysical aspect does not evolve." - A. Moorad
   
  Conclusion #1 - non-physical aspects/things do not evolve.
   
  "[E]volution explains only one small slice of reality. I'd also add the moral law" ... "angels and seraphs" - David Opderbeck
   
  Conclusion #2 - what evolution explains is (only) a small slice of reality. Moral law, angels and seraphs don't evolve.
   

                                
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Received on Fri Mar 17 06:21:53 2006