Comments on: Why Spock Could Never Have Evolved http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/spock/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 24 May 2013 18:48:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Roy Earle http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/spock/#comment-3800 Roy Earle Fri, 11 May 2007 14:26:22 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/spock/#comment-3800 Vulcans dispensed with emotions by means of a philosophy promulgated by Surak. Put another way, emotions were repressed, only to reappear as convenient plot devices. The split between the Vulcans and Romulans occurred over the latter's rejection of the philosophy, leading to many rousing good episodes. The suppression of emotions was therefore a feature of cultural rather than biological evolution, involving agency rather than mere adaptation. Whether or not emotion increases fitness is therefore not the question. Rather it is whether rational agents elect to give up emotions to enhance fitness once certain levels of social evolution have been achieved. Vulcans dispensed with emotions by means of a philosophy promulgated by Surak. Put another way, emotions were repressed, only to reappear as convenient plot devices. The split between the Vulcans and Romulans occurred over the latter’s rejection of the philosophy, leading to many rousing good episodes.

The suppression of emotions was therefore a feature of cultural rather than biological evolution, involving agency rather than mere adaptation. Whether or not emotion increases fitness is therefore not the question. Rather it is whether rational agents elect to give up emotions to enhance fitness once certain levels of social evolution have been achieved.

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