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I find Dennet's arguement in the beginning of this week's reading to be incredibly thought provoking.  He states that there is so little time seperating us from the time of Plato, that there is absolutely no way to look at the human race at an evolutionary level.  Indeed, he says, "There has been time for only about ten generations of Homo sapiens sunce Old Ironsides was launched in 1797."  This paints a pretty blunt picture doesn't it. 

However, we cannot deny, for example, that the average lifespan of a human being is now significantly longer than it was in 1797, as well as in the time of Plato.  How does this fit into biological evolution?  While I do understand Dennet's argument, I feel like examples such as these lie on the border between biology and social/cultural situation.  IT is difficult to explain how any of this fits into the scheme of biological evolution because it has happened in such a short ammount of time.  But isn't our ability to adapt to our environment by creating and discovering better medical treatments, health and sanitation standards enabling us to live longer?  And even if this is so, does it change how we as a species reproduce? Is that relevent?

 Alot of questions.. still trying to sort through it all..