akasha_108 wrote:
> those that typically breed more and/or > their offspring have higher survival rates > and future propogation rates -- are um, good, > smooth BSers. Isn't ignorance itself largely a function of the ego fooling itself into believing it's the one in charge? Or that it even exists? Talk about self-deception. The notion of a self is by definition a deception, from what Peter Sutphen and others have said. Trying to keep it relevant, I am Patrick Gillam --- In [email protected], akasha_108 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Patrick, > > Thats an interesting, thought-provoking article. The cunumdrum is like the > paradox of fish -- they are surrounded by water, but don't notice water > because thats what is always there. Or like a complex loop, built on layers > and layers of deception, genetically refined over time: we are skillfully > programmed to both deceive and to not see the deception. Or if we get through > layer one, there is always layer two. ... > > Think about two major areas of secular life: work and relations. The > successful, and thus those that typically breed more and/or their offspring > have higher survival rates and future propogation rates -- are um, good, > smooth BSers. snip > > Patrick Gillam wrote: > >> A while back, Akasha and I kicked around the topic of whether people who >> have >> deceived themselves into believing bullshit are actually liars, or if their >> belief in their position changes the case. Well, yesterday the Boston Globe >> ran a profile of evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, whose work addresses >> self-deception from the point of view of its value in propagating genes. So >> I >> thought this post might interest Akasha and L B and maybe a few others. >> >> A sidebar worded the thesis this way: >> >> "Whether it's convincing a predator that you're a leaf or fooling another >> bird into raising your young, deceit is an evolutionary strategy with a long >> and innovative history. But as evolution selects for better and better >> cheaters, it should also select for better and better cheating detectors. >> For >> example, Trivers argues, humans might have evolved to detect the sort of >> nervous tics that betray a lie. But there's a counter-strategy: >> self-deception. If we don't know we're lying, then we won't act like we're >> lying, and are more likely to get away with it." snip >> >> The full article is "The evolutionary revolutionary: In the 1970s, Robert >> Trivers wrote a series of papers that transformed evolutionary biology. Then >> he all but disappeared. Now he's back�and ready to rumble." >> >> By Drake Bennett | March 27, 2005 >> >> http://tinyurl.com/457kj >> >> - Patrick Gillam To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
