[Paleopsych] violence

[Michael Christopher]

Todd says:
>>I still hold out some hope that evolutionary models
will help unify the data and provide a general model 
of how we build and respond to our inner
representations of each other.<<

--Another issue is how to conceptualize complex
feedback in human systems in a way that appeals to the
way most people learn. Most people think of
"chemistry" or some other scientific field and all
they remember is the textbook diagrams or the periodic
table, with no unifying and three-dimensional
understanding, let alone any feeling of sincere
interest or curiosity.

And, since our political and social system is often
based on cliches, habit and entrenched family
dynamics, it's hard to get any new model into the
foreground where it can actually be used to accomplish
things. Much easier for a politician to press people's
fear buttons, call for tougher penalties and more
"discipline" and so on. But that's not going to help
someone who falls into a violence spiral and doesn't
know where the "hooks" are to stop himself. Just as a
violent criminal responds automatically and
trance-like to his misperceptions of other people's
motives, so the voting public responds automatically
and trance-like to authoritarian leaders who appeal to
emotional habits developed early in life.

michael 



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