Quoting Krimel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > [Platt] > Human history, especially of the twentieth century, belies the notion that > hard-wired benevolence is difficult to overcome. It suggests instead that > we are hard-wired for aggression, especially against those who are strangers > and/or different than us. Co-operation is pretty much limited to one's own > in-group. Or, as Pirsig wrote, "Cooperation without coercion is a > devastating fiction." > > [Krimel] > Let's take this really slowly one more time. Human history, all of it, is > irrelevant to this discussion. > > History, by definition means during the period after people started writing > things down. That would be about 12,000 years ago, about the time that > agriculture developed and group population sizes began to exceed what we are > biologically equipped to deal with.
You don't see evolution as history? We're talking hard-wired here due to evolutionary processes. > Human experience since the invention of history has been at odds with the > experience out of which we developed. But please note as I said a couple of > times there is a distinction between within and between group violence. > Being at odds with strangers is also a part of inherited morality. It is > particularly dangerous in historic times because there are so many more > strangers about. Yes, but the whole discussion began because a couple of scientists claimed we are hardwired to be benevolent. Are you suggesting that cavemen where Christ-like but since human history began we've become little Eichmans? ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
