>
> The point being distracted from here, that my "laundry
> list" was making, is that the word "hardwired" in
> meaningless combined with the world "capacity". Anything
> a human being can do without surgical or chemical
> alteration is a "Hardwired capacity".
If you're going to use the metaphor "hard-wired" (what? you mean there ain't a literal mesh of copper wires up in my skull?) then the distinction's between "hard-wired" (behavior due to "instinct," whatever that is, but it's a biological something humans have in common with deer, armadillos, other mammals) and "software" (_human-only_ behavior contingent upon the interplay of verbal concepts). The practical difference between "hard-wired" and "soft" would be, if a persistent mistake or undesirable tendency in society is driven by instinct, then nothing less than genetic manipulation will going to change it in the long run, and short of that your best bet is to build social institutions to contain and minimize the inevitable damage caused by that instinct. On the other hand if that social problem is only an issue of the usage of words, then perhaps by a purely intellectual effort - thinking more clearly, resculpting the language, "catapulting the propaganda" - one can actually _defeat_ the problem.
Yours WDK - WKiernan at ij.net