[ExI] anger

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 4:47 PM Darin Sunley via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> Those are the two options evolution gave to all mammals, but the runaway positive feedback loop caused by intra-tribal politics that gave us enormous frontal cortexes gave us third and fourth options:
>
> Get angry, smile, be friendly for a little while, and stab the threat in the back when it's not looking.
>
> Get angry, walk away slowly, and apply a sniper rifle bullet to the threat's center of mass from a safe distance.

Actually, if one can parse a retaliate later strategy from your third
and fourth half-serious options, then there are plenty of animals
besides humans and even other primates that hold grudges, no? Think of
crows and tigers. I think it's simplistic to see all conflict between
individuals aside from humans as resulting in flight or fight.

Also, humans, like many social animals, seem to have evolved ways to
reduce tensions and conflict. I think that's far more important than
getting even, don't you? (In many cases, too, animals will fight each
other over mistakes, so it's important to develop ways of correcting
the mistake before or during a fight. A great example is dogs
play-fighting. They learn to back down when they've gone too far -- at
least the more socialized ones do. The ones that don't usually become
quickly ostracized. This is little different than how humans will
ostracize or have less dealings with the more violent members of their
groups, no? Ditto for humans that go on violent revenge sprees.
Outside of popular movies, this almost always results in the revenger
being punished or ostracized by the wider community, no?)

Regards,

Dan
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