[ExI] Status was Be nice to leftists

Keith Henson hkeithhenson at gmail.com
Sun May 18 20:24:03 UTC 2014


On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 5:00 AM,   "Robert G Kennedy III, PE"
<robot at ultimax.com>
>
> I take issue with the basic premise. *Every* evolved monkey seeks
> status, not just the elites. It's hard-wired.

That's true.  It's also true that there is a great reluctance for
humans to understand that they are motivated to seek status.

Long ago, the middle of the battle with the scientologists, I was much
taken with evolutionary psychology and wrote about this.  I doubt I
was the first to figure it out, but I know of no earlier written
sources that expressed the concept self-referentially.  (It's wired
into primates, I am a primate, ergo.)

I think such self-understanding is more acceptable now, but at the
time it got me a good deal of flack from one Judge Whyte, in a Federal
court.

There is, of course, no better example of a person swapping income for
status than a Federal Judge.

The trial transcript is up.  I suppose I could find it if anyone cares.

Keith



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