[ExI] extropy-chat Digest, Vol 88, Issue 31

[Keith Henson]

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 7:31 PM,  Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 17 January 2011 17:39, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> As I have often discussed here, there are psychological mechanisms
>> that switch humans into an irrational "war mode" when environmental
>> conditions are such that war is a better path for genes than the
>> alternative.
>
> This would make it a "rational" war mode by definition, wouldn't it?

>From the viewpoint of genes yes.  From the viewpoint of the poor
schmuck who gets his ass shot off, no.

And it only applies when you were fighting for close relatives.

That's the real power of Dawkin's Selfish Gene, it teaches you to
consider different viewpoints.

> In any event, even today we can make machines who can persuasively
> behave *as if* they were "angry" or primarily "motivated" by their own
> survival and reproduction, killing humans in the process.

>From the viewpoint of humans, particularly mine, that seems like a
really bad idea.

snip

Keith