<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#0b5394"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 3:09 PM, Anders Sandberg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:anders@aleph.se" target="_blank">anders@aleph.se</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><span title="foozler83@gmail.com">William Flynn Wallace</span><span> <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com" target="_blank">foozler83@gmail.com</a>></span> , 6/5/2014 8:25 PM:<div class="">
<br><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:2px blue solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148)">In my book: the hypothalamus has a biological clock which affects the pituitary, which sends messages to the gonads, which turn testosterone on at 7 p.m. and off at 11. An endocrinologist I asked thought this was entirely possible.</div>
</div></blockquote></div></div><div><br></div><div>As a neuroscientist, I also believe in it. The SCN (superior chiasmatic nucleus) already modulates the pineal gland and indirectly (largely via hormones) the pituitary; a few extra connections to the posterior pituitary and one could totally have this effect. </div>
<div class=""><div><br></div><br><div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:2px blue solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148)">How many millions of men and boys have been killed preceded by "Watch this!"? How many millions of women have been raped because, basically, of too much testosterone? How many fights between men have gone too far? You likely can think of other situations.</div>
</div></blockquote></div><div><br></div></div><div>One could even attempt to answer this with a number by looking at mortality curves. Besides the infant mortality and old age increase, there is a noticeable "adolescent bump", largely for males. </div>
<div class=""><div><br></div><br><div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:2px blue solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148)"></div><div style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148)">
We no longer need a high level of need for fat, salt, and, I argue, testosterone.</div></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div></div><div>Testosterone is useful when you want to shift into a risk-taking mode: if the environment is such that risks are low, then it does not matter - and in fact, one might want a bit more cognitive diversity. </div>
<div><br></div><br>Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University</div></blockquote><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148);display:inline">
Oh, good one, Tara. Surely there is a level that sustains sexual arousal but does not provoke attacks. Or, as in my book, you control aggression simply by gengineering. My future humans are supersensitive and would not dream of hurting another human (or maybe even another creature), and since there is no privacy anywhere any transgressions are immediately reported. And their gene charts studied intensely. If this doesn't get rid of crime, I just dunno. Remember that there is no money, no ownership. Someone would just have to wish to hurt another person to commit a crime (and their ultimate punishment is to have their genes, or at least the ones deemed responsible, removed from our gene pool). And vice versa: successful people will have their genes moved up the desirability chart.<br>
<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148);display:inline">As a thought question: why do we need aggression? Assertiveness, of course. Ability to attack/defend, yes. But no madness, no blood lust, no 'kill em all and let God sort em out'. Just cold-blooded, effective action, stopped when the objective is achieved. (And the first thing to go in personality traits is psychopathy).<br>
</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148);display:inline"><br>Anders, surely any sort of risk-taking could be fueled by adrenal hormones, eh?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(11,83,148);display:inline">
And let the robots take the risks in the future. bill w</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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