[ExI] Der Spiegel on Trump

Keith Henson hkeithhenson at gmail.com
Sat May 27 20:41:33 UTC 2017


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/donald-trump-is-a-menace-to-the-world-opinion-a-1148471.html

I logged in and tried to comment but could not get it to work.  So you
guys get it.

Evolutionary Psychology is a relatively recent field.  It makes the
simple claim that psychological mechanisms and the resulting behaviors
are a product of evolution, no less than eyes, ears, and hands.
Humans, being social, have been selected for behaviors in groups that
improve the chances of their genes getting into the next generation.

Most of this evolution happened over the past few million years when
humans lived in bands or small tribes.  When those bands were faced
with bleak times due to drought or other causes, models indicate that
fighting was better for their genes.  In good times, fighting was
_not_ good for their genes.  One of the effects of a bleak future is
the expansion of xenophobic memes in the group.  Another is that
irrational people become attractive as leaders.

If this sounds familiar, it should.


Best wishes,

Keith



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list