Keith Henson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
It's worst than that. The natives of Easter Island ... went at
each other with rocks ...
True, but that tells us nothing as to whether the capability of
developing `xenophobic memes' comes as the result of greater genetic
reproduction under some circumstances or comes as the result of
something else.
James Chowning Davies argues an association for wars, riots and other
social disturbances with a downward deflection in economic (and other)
progress after a run up. Christian Mesquida and Neil Wiener make the case
that it is excessive numbers of young males--which is also associated with
a population that has been growing faster then productivity.
Right. But that still does not answer the question. All it tells us
is that various old timers were right, such as those who wrote about
the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The question is which explanation is better?
They have predicted (on the basis of excess young males) that
China will be a source of wars.
This is scary and I would very much like to see other arguments of
this sort. But it has nothing to do with the question at hand.
As for this other issue, whether there are reasonably good
sociological predictors of future fighting, it interests me, but it is
a separate question.
Regarding this other issue, please tell us more about the time lags
involved -- year, three years, seven years, a generation? -- and what
makes up the perceived boundaries of the social group.
I remember that my father recommended a book more than 35 years ago in
which the author argued that unmet expectations are a cause of
violence. For example, he claimed that before the French Revolution,
life had been becoming better, but that improvement stopped. (I don't
remember the time lag -- improvement may have stopped a half
generation or even a full generation before the revolution.)
What have you found?
Incidentally, I did not write
By the way, evolutionary psychology tries to account for human
psychology traits that were adaptive for hunter gatherers. ....
That quote is from someone else. (You probably did not intend to say
`Chassell wrote:' and then the quote, but that is what the message
claimed.)
I know the goal; my question is not about the goal, but whether
evolutionary psychology is providing a good explanation, or whether it
is hokum?
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
Since I am slowly updating it, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I have written a "What's New" segment for http://www.rattlesnake.com
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