[extropy-chat] re: embedded in open hearts (Meta/EP)
Keith Henson
hkhenson at rogers.com
Sun Apr 10 18:08:40 UTC 2005
At 03:33 PM 10/04/05 +0200, you wrote:
> Dear Hubert,
>
>I wish you would stop and pause before you rant. Your
>knee-jerk response to anything Catholic is tiring.
Indeed, especially when the whole emotional outpouring around the Pope's
death is so intensely interesting on a meta level.
Why do humans react this way?
Nobody responded to this question up the thread. It is a question that I
think can only be answered with evolutionary psychology.
EP is a subject of great importance to anyone concerned with the future and
such major subjects as AI. It is also the only approach I know of for
understanding the reason humans have wars and what must to be done to avoid
wars.
But to answer the question, human psychological traits were selected for
those that promoted reproductive success in the hunter gatherer
environment. Evolution is a slow process and there have not been enough
generations since agriculture to have substantially changed human
psychological traits.
So if you want to think about why people like the Pope, Princess Diana,
heads of states and Hollywood actors get a lot of attention you have to
think in terms of the social life of a hunter gatherer tribe. For
ecological reasons tribe size was limited, generally to less than 100 people.
So there was little reason for our brains to have evolved the ability to
recognize a lot more then the number in a typical tribe. And being able to
recognize and (for that matter) bond with the alpha level members in a
tribe was *very* important for your reproductive success in those times.
It is actually amazing that we have so many high profile people in the
world. Of course a lot of those who psychologically bonded to the Pope may
not even know who Hunter S. Thompson was.
Understanding EP might be as important to your survival as looking for cars
before you cross a street. Especially in these times of incipient wars.
Keith Henson
PS. If any want pointers into the on line materials, ask.
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