[extropy-chat] The political brain

[steven mckenzie]

I refute the idea that there is
some kind of emotional attachment to political
> ideas formed early in
> >life, that switches reason off when it comes to
> questioning one's
> >worldview.
i was raised and held strongly very "conservative"
views, then as i explored things, i became very
"liberal"
my faith is based on constant questioning and
exploring
i am not, by any accounts unique
I feel that people cant handle the cognitive
dissonance, like people can't seem to handle quiet but
have to have their music always blaring,
the hardest thing for most to accept is that they are
wrong, especially in western culture
another thing I notuced is the idea that all behavior
has an evoltionary reason, some may behaviors may
simple he hold overs from previous times, and not
really evolutionary based at all
--- Keith Henson <hkhenson at rogers.com> wrote:

> At 11:13 AM 7/13/2006 +0200, you wrote:
> >The political brain
> >
>
>http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000CE155-1061-1493-906183414B7F0162
> >
> >This very good article says that when it comes to
> politics we tend to
> >forget reason and run by emotions: ""Essentially,
> it appears as if
> >partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until
> they get the
> >conclusions they want, and then they get massively
> reinforced for it,
> >with the elimination of negative emotional states
> and activation of
> >positive ones,"".
> 
> This is Drew Westin's work.  You can get the entire
> preprint paper if you 
> want by asking for the password.
> 
> >This is probably the reason why transhumanists
> never seem to come to
> >any agreement when political positions are
> concerned. There must be
> >some kind of emotional attachment to political
> ideas formed early in
> >life, that switches reason off when it comes to
> questioning one's
> >worldview.
> >
> >Or, to say it like our grandfathers (there is
> nothing new onder the
> >sun): you are blind to what you don't want to see,
> and deaf to what
> >you don't want to hear.
> 
> The evolutionary psychology question you want to ask
> is why humans have 
> this trait?  My answer is that it is part of the
> evolved mechanisms leading 
> to wars that have been honed since we no longer had
> predators to keep our 
> numbers in check.
> 
> Pointer to the article has been posted recently.
> 
> Keith Henson
> 
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>
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> 


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