On Tue, 7 Sep 2004, Jake Anderson wrote:

...
> something I find interesting to ponder is, is there something about the
> physical constants/makeup of our universe that may lead to a favouring of
> one kind of life over another. Personally it seems the smaller/more
> efficient and the more willing you are to kill/eat/do anything to survive
> the more your species will prosper.

The problem with those is that they often fall into extremism, killing 
diversity among their own. Then the next time they have a large problem 
that cannot be solved in their canonical ways they go the way of the 
dinosaurs. So you have to have a balance between brains and teeth. It also 
helps if you apply some moderation in a system with limited resources, 
lest you run out of them before finding something new. There you have 
three characteristics which present day mankind imho does *not* possess 
(or at least visibly apply). It seems to be 'pick any two', or less ;-(

Peter
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