The ultimate goal of a mind is to reproduce the genes that created it.
Among social primates, the ability to manipulate others is one of the most
important factors in getting one's genes into the next generation. The human
mind evolved primarily as a tool to manipulate others in complex social
hierarchies. [1]
The sine qua non of politics is: "social manipulation" -- it's taking a fact
out of context and twisting it around to improve one's "inclusive fitness".
It's in our genes -- we all do it.
Obviously, mental attributes that are optimized for politics can not
sustain very long for the simple reason they can't actually solve problems
in the real world. This is why even the "pseudo democracies" (money-based
democracies, or democracies under capitalism) are historically rare and now
on the way out:
"[ Evolutionary scientists ] Somit and Peterson provide an informative
account of the evolutionary basis for our historical (and current)
opposition to democracy. For many, this will be an unwelcome message - like
being told that one's fly is unzipped. But after a brief bout of anger, we
tend to thank the messenger for sparing us further embarrassment." [2]
As resources are depleted, the ruling classes are less-and-less able to
allow the common herd animals the pretence of self government. It seems
that democracy was only temporary luxury -- enjoy it while it lasts:
"I submit that the democracy we are encouraging in many poor parts of the
world is an integral part of a transformation toward new forms of
authoritarianism; that democracy in the United States is at greater risk
than ever before, and from obscure sources; and that many future regimes,
ours especially, could resemble the oligarchies of ancient Athens and Sparta
more than they do the current government in Washington." [3]
"West Africa is becoming the symbol of worldwide demographic, environmental,
and societal stress, in which criminal anarchy emerges as the real
'strategic' danger. Disease, overpopulation, unprovoked crime, scarcity of
resources, refugee migrations, the increasing erosion of nation-states and
international borders, and the empowerment of private armies, security
firms, and international drug cartels are now most tellingly demonstrated
through a West African prism. West Africa provides an appropriate
introduction to the issues, often extremely unpleasant to discuss, that will
soon confront our civilization." [4]
Jay
------------
[1]"In fact, telling primates (human or otherwise) that their reasoning
architectures evolved in large part to solve problems of dominance is a
little like telling fish that their gills evolved in large part to solve the
problem of oxygen intake from water. The struggle for survival through
competition and cooperation with members of one's own species is as old as
life itself. If the data on social norm and theory of mind reasoning show us
anything, it is that the winners are most likely to be those with the
capacity to exploit or route the constraints of the dominance hierarchy. If
one were to guess at which problems cognition evolved to solve, one would be
hard pressed to come up with a better candidate than dominance." [pp. 45-46,
THE EVOLUTION OF MIND, Denise Dellarosa Cummings & Collin Allen; Oxford
University Press, 1998 ]
[2] Robert E. Lane, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale
University, and Past President, American Political Science Association,
commenting on DARWINISM, DOMINANCE, AND DEMOCRACY: The Biological Bases of
Authoritarianism, by Albert Somit and Steven A. Peterson; Review at
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275958/0275958175.html
[3] WAS DEMOCRACY JUST A MOMENT? by Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic Monthly,
December, 1997 http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97dec/democ.htm
[4] THE COMING ANARCHY, by Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic Monthly, February
1994
http://www.theatlantic.com/atlantic/election/connection/foreign/anarcf.htm
