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this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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Biology
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Yeah but the theory of evolution writ large needs shaking up. The whole theory reeks of Malthusianism, a disproved economic theory, since Darwin was influenced by Malthus. Many of the sick consequences of "Social Darwinism" are a result of the theory's flawed precursory logic.
That being said I tend to skew cynical. Still I'd like to see parts of a mostly-correct predictive model questioned and reevaluated
The theory has been quite shaken up since Darwin, don't worry. This idea that evolutionary biology hasn't moved since Darwin is basically a strawman. Beside, Social Darwinism has little to do with actual Darwinism, and all reasonable biologist would agree it is pure junk.
So is a crucial part of the theory no longer "survival of the fittest?" Because that's straight Malthus. I'm not a biologist, but I study and read and try to pay attention.
Not really, no. In a sense, never has been. "Survival of the fittest" was a poor formula (I remember reading that Darwin was not fond of it at first and used it somewhat reluctantly but I can't remember where), and a very bad summary of the theory of evolution. To start with because the important thing is differential reproduction (with modifications) between individuals, but not survival per se. But also because natural selection is just a part of the modern theory and many others aspects have been added since then (mutations, drift, phenotypic plasticity, environmental inheritance, etc).