[extropy-chat] Rational thinking was Movie review- (2)

[Jef Allbright]

>>>> Heh.  What would the rational thought that explained irrational
>>>> thinking be worth?

>> Well, as currently stated it's mundane because we often provide 
>> rational explanations of irrational thinking.

Keith Henson wrote:
> I claim that humans have mental mechanisms *for* irrational 
> thinking.  These get turned on when the "interest" of the 
> person and his genes diverge (or he has been convinced they do).
> 
> Or do you have a better explanation for suicide bombers?

Keith, you remind me of another guy on this list.  Whenever someone
touches on [self|free-will|morality|social decision-making] he goes off
about how these related concepts are real but not what they appear and
can be better understood in terms of expanding context of the
self-model.  In your case, mention of [evolution|warfare|society]
triggers posting about how certain "irrational" social behaviors such as
warfare can be better understood as genetically driven responses to
perceived threat of scarcity that worked in the environment of
evolutionary adaptation.  In each case, I suspect many people read and
say something like, "Yeah, so what?"

My earlier comment was to the point that we *often* provide rational
explanations of irrational thinking.  We are accustomed to explaining
irrational thinking due to causes such as emotional predisposition,
actual mental illness, learned biases, temporary emotional upset, and as
you point out, evolved traits causing us to react strongly and sometimes
inappropriately in ways that tended to convey a fitness advantage in the
EEA.

I agree with you that the behavior of suicide bombers is largely
determined by such evolved genetic drivers. I would add, however, that a
more complete understanding must include social factors, technological
asymmetry, game theory and more.

However, my comment was in response to Mike Dougherty's "Koan"
statement.  By the way, thanks Mike for your contributions to the list
since your recent joining. Koans are intended to present a paradox in
simple terms such that a more encompassing understanding may be
intuited.  On that theme, I offered the paradoxical idea that any
behavior is "rational" only within a given limited context.  [I have a
lot in common with that "expanding context" guy mentioned earlier.]

- Jef