Dr. Popp, the first computer virus, and the purpose of human life: Studies in Crap gapes at Popular Evolution

Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist

brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from

basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. I do this

for one reason: Knowledge is power.

Popular Evolution: Life-Lessons From Anthropology

Author:

Joseph L. Popp

Publisher:

Man and Nature Press

Date:

2000

Discovered

at: “Borrowed” from

Your Crap Archivist’s old job in a Harvard alumni office

The

Cover Promises: The worst

A Chorus Line ever.

Representative

Quotes:

“With

the reproductive imperative always in mind, this book offers an

unadorned explanation of the purpose of human life and how we can

fulfill that purpose.” (page xv)

“See

that your children get a good eighth grade education. … Avoid

smoking tobacco unless you are a teenager who would otherwise not be

having sexual intercourse. … Individuals should not use any form

of contraception. … Keep no pets. Have another child or help a

relative have another child instead.” (page 260)

By my count,

Harvard-trained evolutionary biologist Joseph L. Popp managed at least

four wholly unique accomplishments before his death in 2007:

1. Studying

   hamadryas baboons in East Africa for fifteen years.

2. Opening a

   butterfly sanctuary in upstate New York. 

3. Self-publishing

   Popular Evolution, a

   “new model for the ultimate kind of self-help”that argues that

   humanity’s only purpose is “maximizing reproductive success” and

   points out, as a point for further research, that “Rape appears as

   a reproductive strategy in other species.”

4. Mailing out

   20,000 floppy disks containing a computer virus aimed at holding hostage the world’s

   accumulated knowledge of AIDS.