[ExI] Non-rational humans can have benefits

[Keith Henson]

I think you have seen my paper on genetic selection for war.  There
are situations where rational for genes is *not* rational for the
person with the genes.  Being in conflict with your genes is weird,
but logical.  Genes, having the long-term view, usually win.

Keith

https://jbh.journals.villanova.edu/index.php/JBH/article/view/3166

It took two years to get this published.  The bit about bonobos seems
to be a new observation.

On Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 2:28 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> On 31/10/2025 19:04, BillK wrote:
> > Humans are emotional creatures, not logical machines.
> > The floods of emotions in humans have survival benefits. That is
> > why they developed and persist.
> > Cold logic would "dehumanise" humans and produce bad results.
> > That is why enemies have to be thought of as sub-human to justify killing.
> >
> > Benefits of non-rationality -
> > Relationships, love, loyalty, and caring persist.
> > Creativity and Innovation are often non-logical.
> > Different moral systems that benefit their society are non-logical.
> > Quick decisions in times of stress are intuitive.
> > Hope and optimism keep humans going when, logically, they should just give up.
> >
> > And so on......   Being human seems preferable to being a "rational agent".
>
> Dang, I didn't realise you can't have both.
> Oh, wait... it's a trick, isn't it?
> A bunch of 'em.
>
> Logic isn't cold.
> Emotions don't normally flood (but they can be cold).
> Logic definitely has survival benefits too.
> Intuition doesn't have to be non-logical.
>
> And so on....... Being human includes being a rational agent. Sometimes.
>
> And I propose reversing the terms in the first sentence, to: "Humans are
> emotional machines, not logical creatures". With a minimum of two
> exclamation marks.
> Just to avoid any claims of discrimination or bias. We don't want people
> marching in the streets waving banners saying "Creatures are machines too!!"
>
> This looks like it was written by a bored journalist, inspired by the
> tired old 'nature vs. nurture' so-called argument, wanting to generate
> an artificial 'controversy'.
>
> BillK, are you a bored journalist?!!
>
> --
> Ben
>
>
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