> Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [Snip everything for the sake of a tangent] > > The question going through my mind is : Are genetic > imperatives rational?
Not at all. Just look at how insane MAD war is/was, although in caveman days it made genetic sense to wipe out a competing tribe in times of severe privation (say many years of drought and famine).
Even stranger, it made genetic sense under these conditions to make a suicidal attack on a stronger tribe where the chances were very high *ever* warrior in the weaker tribe was gonna get killed. You have to grok both Hamilton's inclusive (kin) selection and the well known tendency for human tribe to consider the women of a defeated tribe to be booty for this to make sense.
Worse yet, the mental state for this move is not rational. In spite of it being a smart move for *genes* it is by rational standards *stupid.* But then if the genes are going to induce suicidal attacks, they have to induce non-rational behavior. So wonder no longer why people make stupid decisions in wars, irrational optimisms under these circumstances has been wired into your fricking genes.
Keith Henson
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