[are digests OK? I haven't received any silk digests since before FoU
-DL]
If DNA testing for a fear gene is both scientifically and ethically
dicey, what about setting out to create people who lack that
characteristic? Would breeding humans without stathmin or other genes
associated with fear reactions engender more courageous fighters?
The odd assumption here is that a more courageous fighter will always
be a more effective fighter. The ancient greeks wrote of the need to
temper courage, and the invention of the machine gun has only made it
more obvious.
When selecting hunting dogs, the common wisdom is to look for the puppy
that, while not being afraid of sudden noises or movements, pays
attention to them briefly, and perhaps investigates, before returning
to what it was doing. When taking a puppy that doesn't mind anything,
one commonly finds it just doesn't have enough mind to do the job.
I haven't put this to the test with hounds myself, but it's certainly a
good way to select horses, and, among humans, the guy who has no fear
of driving drunk is clearly not someone to make responsible for other
important decisions.
-Dave
:: :: ::
DARPA's Defense Sciences Office has stated that "if you can prevent
bad decisions from being made during sleep deprivation, you can
dominate the battlefield."
... or, if you can prevent bad decisions from being made before anyone
is sleep deprived, there may not even be a battlefield you need to
dominate.
The US had a civil war in the mid-19th century: North vs. South, and it
wound up with almost a million people dead, roughly 3% of the
population.
Switzerland had a civil war in the mid-19th century: Protestant vs.
Catholic, and it wound up with almost 100 people dead, roughly 0.00% of
the population.
