Evolution in humans does not work to produce an integrated intellectual system but produces the set of hacks better suited to the ancestral environment than any other human. Thus we should expect the average human brain to have quite insular but malleable capabilites. Indeed I have the impression that old arts like music try to repurpose those specific pathways in novel ways. Are there parts of our brains we can easily repurpose to aid in our quest for rationality?
I have a notion we aren’t just adapted to the ancestral environment—we’ve also got adaptations for low-tech agriculture (diligence, respect for authority) and cities (tolerance for noise, crowding, and strangers). Neither list is intended to be complete.
I’ve wondered whether people in separatist/supremacist movements have fewer city genes than average.
You mean like imagining you’re going to present an issue to an authority figure when thinking about it? Or something more wacky like converting reasoning problems into visual problems?
Evolution in humans does not work to produce an integrated intellectual system but produces the set of hacks better suited to the ancestral environment than any other human. Thus we should expect the average human brain to have quite insular but malleable capabilites. Indeed I have the impression that old arts like music try to repurpose those specific pathways in novel ways. Are there parts of our brains we can easily repurpose to aid in our quest for rationality?
I have a notion we aren’t just adapted to the ancestral environment—we’ve also got adaptations for low-tech agriculture (diligence, respect for authority) and cities (tolerance for noise, crowding, and strangers). Neither list is intended to be complete.
I’ve wondered whether people in separatist/supremacist movements have fewer city genes than average.
Great point, we have adaptions for a multitude of environments.
Still, the question is, can we repurpose some of those little adaptions for rationality or finetune them by some technique?
You mean like imagining you’re going to present an issue to an authority figure when thinking about it? Or something more wacky like converting reasoning problems into visual problems?
Either. The first will be lower hanging fruit, the second will be much more non-obvious.
My point, I think, is that most of the stuff on lesswrong is on the theoretical side of things but quite impractical.