[Platt] You don't see evolution as history? We're talking hard-wired here due to evolutionary processes.
[Krimel] Ok maybe I did not go slow enough but do try to keep up. Historic times are those after the invention of writing. The enormous period before that momentous even some 12,000 year ago, is call prehistory. As in prehistoric cavemen and prehistoric monsters. > 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. [Platt] 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? [Krimel] In "The Science of Good and Evil" Shermer talks about the evolution of both kinds of morality, (note good and evil in the title). He does not say that prehistoric people were good; only that they lived in groups that approximate the number of people our brains are large enough to know personally. Knowing these details about people in our communities allows for kinds of social control over behavior that are not as effective when dealing with people we do not know. 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/
