[extropy-chat] re: embedded in open hearts (Meta/EP)

[Keith Henson]

At 03:33 PM 10/04/05 +0200, you wrote:
>  Dear Hubert,
>
>I wish you would stop and pause before you rant. Your
>knee-jerk response to anything Catholic is tiring.

Indeed, especially when the whole emotional outpouring around the Pope's 
death is so intensely interesting on a meta level.

Why do humans react this way?

Nobody responded to this question up the thread.  It is a question that I 
think can only be answered with evolutionary psychology.

EP is a subject of great importance to anyone concerned with the future and 
such major subjects as AI.  It is also the only approach I know of for 
understanding the reason humans have wars and what must to be done to avoid 
wars.

But to answer the question, human psychological traits were selected for 
those that promoted reproductive success in the hunter gatherer 
environment.  Evolution is a slow process and there have not been enough 
generations since agriculture to have substantially changed human 
psychological traits.

So if you want to think about why people like the Pope, Princess Diana, 
heads of states and Hollywood actors get a lot of attention you have to 
think in terms of the social life of a hunter gatherer tribe.  For 
ecological reasons tribe size was limited, generally to less than 100 people.

So there was little reason for our brains to have evolved the ability to 
recognize a lot more then the number in a typical tribe.  And being able to 
recognize and (for that matter) bond with the alpha level members in a 
tribe was *very* important for your reproductive success in those times.

It is actually amazing that we have so many high profile people in the 
world.  Of course a lot of those who psychologically bonded to the Pope may 
not even know who Hunter S. Thompson was.

Understanding EP might be as important to your survival as looking for cars 
before you cross a street.  Especially in these times of incipient wars.

Keith Henson

PS.  If any want pointers into the on line materials, ask.