Whats your reaction to this quote?

Question

"Greed captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit"

Answer 1

My first reaction is the "greed" is not quite the right word for this. I would use the phrase "motivated self-interest".

Of course, my response may not be typical. I am an author, so I tend to analyze whether words are appropriate.

Answer 2

That quote is from a narrow minded view.  No one thing can capture the evolutionary spirit, but this is the way I see greed fitting in.  The more you have (wealth, power) the better your chances to survive.  Greed is a natural emotion developed to help ensure survival.  Pretty much all emotions can be tied into this view.

Answer 3

I think possibly that greed makes us want more than we need and more then the next person has.  To get this you have to do better than others and that's when we excel and improve ourselves.  It's hard to know what you are capable of unless you have something or someone to compare yourself to. It's that "competition" when progress gets made and evolutionary changes come.

When space exploration began countries competed to be the first on the moon.  Huge leaps and bounds was made in science and technology just because everyone wanted to be the first to receive all the glory for getting there first.