[ExI] No need for radical changes in human nature/was Re: Private and government R&D

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 2:59 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/7/3 Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>:
>
>> ### I wish I could share your optimism. The way I see it, at least 60%
>> of all activity today happens under duress (since the government
>> directly or indirectly controls about 60% of the society), plus there
>> is a minor amount of private violence. This is an improvement over the
>> savages in the jungles of South America or Africa, where most men die
>> by homicide.
>
> Really?

### In some tribes, yes, although the average is only something like 30%.
-----------------------
>
>>  It may be better than life in Mexican villages, where
>> social customs impose an implicit marginal tax rate of 85%. But there
>> is no doubt that the vast majority of US citizens happily endorse mass
>> slaughter of random brown people, destruction of lives of millions of
>> workers here and abroad (through protectionist trade measures), and
>> even the daily senseless mayhem on our roads. Today I saw five cops on
>> three miles of highway, brazenly, in broad daylight attacking honest
>> workers, just swaggering over with their guns and squeezing them for
>> cash under the pretext of committing what they call "crimes", and what
>> I call driving home.
>
> You mean they were putting cash into their own pockets, or issuing
> speeding tickets?

### Does it matter?

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The question of traffic laws is an interesting one,
> since even an anarchist society might decide that they are worth
> having.

### Only if enacted by legitimate (i.e. private) owners of roads.

----------------

>
> Is there any evidence that more intelligent people are less likely to
> be violent or dishonest? I think the main difference would be that
> they will be more sophisticated in the crimes they commit.
> Intelligence, alas, is not even a good predictor of religiosity. It's
> a bit arrogant to assume that if people were smarter, they would think
> like you, even if you are in fact smarter than most people.

### Yes, there is extensive evidence of a negative correlation between
intelligence and criminality. You can find a large bibliography in
"The Bell Curve".
---------------------

>
> As for changing their brains to make themselves less aggressive, I am
> hopeful that given the ability to make such changes, more people would
> in fact choose to do this rather than make themselves more aggressive.
>
### If they choose to become more aggressive and act on it, we'll kill them.

Rafal