Evolution acts slowly. Our psychological characteristics today are those that promoted reproductive success in the ancestral environment.
From Keith Henson
Cult recruiting methods based on dosing victims with the brain chemicals released during capture bonding would make cults even more of a problem than they are now.
Even small cults are a serious cost on the world economy, to victims, their families, employers, friends, and credit-card companies.
Children do not have to learn that streets are dangerous places by potentially fatal trial and error.
People can undergo a sudden change of thinking and loyalties under threat of death or intense social pressure and isolation from friends and family.
People repeat behaviour that leads to flooding their brains with pleasurable chemicals. The short-term reward loop acts over hours to years, and the long-term reproductive success loop over generations.
I can't think of anyone who is up on evolutionary psychology and related areas who is deluded enough to be called a utopian.
Fighting hard to protect yourself and your relatives is good for your genes, but when captured and escape is not possible, giving up short of dying and making the best you can of the new situation is also good for your genes.
Most of the suicide hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, a place not lacking in wealth. But due to rapid population growth, the wealth per capita has fallen by about half in a generation.
Anyone who has ever had the feeling of being higher than a kite after giving a public speech is well aware of the effects of attention.
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