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Old 12-27-2008, 06:35 PM   #697
C. David Henderson
Location: Santa Fe New Mexico
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 606
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Re: The continued Evolution of Aikido

Gene,

I respect that you've taken a position, and I'm not trying to change your mind.

But if you are saying that Aikido must improve, what mechanism do you think is at work here?

If the answer is competition, then that is the same mechanism involved in natural selection.

I'm not suggesting your view is that Aikido is subject to biological evolution; but it seems to me your position does involve the idea of survival based on competition in the "marketplace" of martial arts.

If so, and I'm not critiquing your position, then it seems to me you are using the idea of evolution in a similar sense to the idea of biological evolution, as opposed to one of the other definitions of the word.

Those other definitions don't necessarily involve the idea of improvement, or competition, or survival of the fittest/more effective/more popular, or more-what-have you.

The concept of natural selection is very similar to the idea of competition in classic capitalist economics and even 18th Century democratic theories of free competition in the marketplace of both goods and ideas.

So, my friend, if you do mean evolution in a sense different from what I understood, could you tie your idea to one of the other accepted meanings of evolve?

Regards,

DH