[ExI] Asabiyyah

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:

>
> What substrate does this phenomenon run on? I don't think we need to blame
> genetics or intelligence, culture is more than enough. A strongly male
> dominated, competitive situation, perhaps with highly mobile people, would
> tend to produce a situation where tribal identity and parochialism become
> strong. And of course, once you are parochial you will develop memes that
> maintain your group and explain why this is the right way of life.
>

### In-group cooperation and out-group hostility are too important to be
completely left to the fickle vagaries of culture. There is a limited
number of settings for behaviors that are compatible with group survival
under EEA. When do you and your buddies attack the others? Do you do that
openly or do you get him when nobody's looking? Local culture will modify
these proclivities but there is a genetic bedrock of fear, love and hatred
on which all is built.

Naturally, as any multigenic trait, there will be inter-individual
variability. Not all Yanomamo have what it takes to be unokai
(human-killer). Multigenic and variable traits undergo rapid changes under
evolutionary pressures, driven by changes in allele frequency. Evolutionary
pressures on the precursors of modern European populations have differed
from EEA very significantly, especially over the past 1000 years.

I would be extremely surprised if these pressures did not produce genetic
changes in social proclivities. Culture and genetics are entwined in
reciprocal feedback, over longer periods of time one hardly changes without
the other.

Rafał
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