[ExI] reconnect

[hkhenson]

At 11:50 AM 9/10/2007, billk wrote:

snip

>Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of an
>ethnic, religious or national group. It is very likely that religious
>motivations will be called in to justify the slaughter.
>
>But I think you probably need to get Keith Henson to comment on the ep
>causes of wars and genocides.

The model is here:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/4/17/194059/296

In short the model proposes evolved psychological mechanisms that 
turn up the gain on the circulation of xenophobic memes when a 
population group foresees a bleak future.  The xenophobic memes (very 
often of the religious meme class) serve to synch a group's warriors 
for an attack on neighbors.  The model makes a number of predictions 
about where wars are likely to happen and what side will start 
them.  It accounts for situations from the dying out of the IRA to 
the intractable problems in the middle east.

>And governments aren't the cause. They
>may be necessary, but are not sufficient on their own.

True.  Chimpanzees carry out genocides against neighboring bands 
waging something akin to wars and do it without what we would 
recognize as a government.

Keith