[ExI] Beowulf

[hkhenson]

At 05:00 PM 11/27/2007, David wrote:
>I wrote:
>
>  > To me, the way to answer most questions like this is to simplify them
>  > to one involving two or three people.
>
>Keith replied:
>
> >That's not entirely legit. Very small numbers of people invoke
> >different mental modules than larger ones. See "The Nurture
> >Assumption" for a discussion of relations vs groups.
>
>and then elaborated:
>
> >Relations involving two or maybe 3 people seem to invoke different
> >parts of the brain.  So you really can't simplify down to that size
> >and then extrapolate back up to larger groups.  Or rather, you can,
> >but your extrapolations will be wrong. For example, you don't get mob
> >behavior below some number of people.
>
>Apples and oranges. I'm talking about extrapolating ethics; you're
>talking about extrapolating behavior. I'm saying what ought to be;
>you're talking about what might happen instead.
>
>Or are you saying that the ethics could also change based on the
>numbers involved? Because, for instance, the factors to be considered
>are different, e.g., the existence or risk of mob behavior?

I haven't thought deeply about this, but I would expect our wired in 
sense of ethics to change depending on which brain module was 
activated. It's really clear from context and history that the 
biblical injunction not to kill didn't apply to war with out groups.

Even then, whether or not your group went out to kill neighboring 
groups depended on ecological conditions. I.e., in times of plenty 
you hunted and took care of kids rather than going out and taking a 
major risk to getting killed yourself by trying to kill neighbors. 
When times were looking bleak, trying to kill neighbors was (from 
your genes viewpoint) a good tradeoff.

Keith