This could really.do.with some concrete examples of homeostasis,
There’s a whole bunch of pure bio stuff that I’m not properly familiar with the details of, e.g. the immune system. But the more interesting stuff is probably the behavioral stuff.
When you are low on nutrition or calories, you get hungry and try to eat. You generally feel motivated to ensure that you have food to eat for when you do get hungry, which in modern society involves doing stuff like working for pay, but in other societies has involved farming or foraging. If there are specific nutrients like salt that you are missing, then you feel strong cravings for food containing those nutrients.
Shelter, if the weather is sufficiently cold that it would hurt you (or waste energy), then you find it aversive and seek protection. Longer-term, you ensure you have a house etc..
Safety. If you touch a hot stove, you immediately move your hand away from it. In order to avoid getting hurt, people create safety regulations. Etc.
There’s just tons of stuff, and nobody is likely to talk you out of ensuring that you get your nutritional needs covered, or to talk you out of being protected from the elements. They are very strong drives.
and some discussion of how homeostasis is compatible with major life changes.
And second, because maintaining homeostasis is again just a proxy for other goals that evolution has, namely because it grants power to engage in reproduction and kin altruism
Staying alive grants power to engage in reproduction and kin altruism … But homeostasis means “staying the same”, according to the dictionary. The two come apart. A single homeostat would want to stay single, because that is their current state. But singletons often don’t want to stay single, and don’t serve evolutionary purposes by doing so.
I mean homeostasis in the sense of “keeping conditions within the range where one is healthily alive”, not in the sense of “keeping everything the same”.
I mean homeostasis in the sense of “keeping conditions within the range where one is healthily alive”, not in the sense of “keeping everything the same”.
But that still isn’t the sole explanation of human behaviour, because humans do flourishing type stuff like going on dates, going to college, going to the gym.
I’m not saying that it is the sole explanation of all human behavior, I’m saying that it is a major class of behaviors that is difficult to stop people from engaging in and which is necessary for the effectiveness of humans in influencing the world.
Not sure what the relevance of global warming is to this discussion.
Insofar as that is true, seems like a scale issue. (It doesn’t seem entirely true—global warming is a major problem, but not exactly an x-risk. Many of the biggest contributors to global warming are not the ones who will be hit the hardest. And there’s a tragedy of the commons issue to it.)
I’m familiar with the ordinary biological meaning of homeostasis , but I don’t see how it relates to
Would humanity commit planet-scale killings and massively transform huge parts of the world for marginal values gain? Eh. Sort of. Sometimes. It’s complicated. Would humans commit planet-scale killings and massively transform huge parts of the world for marginal homeostasis gain? Obviously yes.
Why would anyone commit massive crimes for marginal gains?
There’s a whole bunch of pure bio stuff that I’m not properly familiar with the details of, e.g. the immune system. But the more interesting stuff is probably the behavioral stuff.
When you are low on nutrition or calories, you get hungry and try to eat. You generally feel motivated to ensure that you have food to eat for when you do get hungry, which in modern society involves doing stuff like working for pay, but in other societies has involved farming or foraging. If there are specific nutrients like salt that you are missing, then you feel strong cravings for food containing those nutrients.
Shelter, if the weather is sufficiently cold that it would hurt you (or waste energy), then you find it aversive and seek protection. Longer-term, you ensure you have a house etc..
Safety. If you touch a hot stove, you immediately move your hand away from it. In order to avoid getting hurt, people create safety regulations. Etc.
There’s just tons of stuff, and nobody is likely to talk you out of ensuring that you get your nutritional needs covered, or to talk you out of being protected from the elements. They are very strong drives.
I mean homeostasis in the sense of “keeping conditions within the range where one is healthily alive”, not in the sense of “keeping everything the same”.
But that still isn’t the sole explanation of human behaviour, because humans do flourishing type stuff like going on dates, going to college, going to the gym.
Also: global warming.
I’m not saying that it is the sole explanation of all human behavior, I’m saying that it is a major class of behaviors that is difficult to stop people from engaging in and which is necessary for the effectiveness of humans in influencing the world.
Not sure what the relevance of global warming is to this discussion.
Global warming is humans moving conditions out of the range where one is healthily alive.
Insofar as that is true, seems like a scale issue. (It doesn’t seem entirely true—global warming is a major problem, but not exactly an x-risk. Many of the biggest contributors to global warming are not the ones who will be hit the hardest. And there’s a tragedy of the commons issue to it.)
I’m familiar with the ordinary biological meaning of homeostasis , but I don’t see how it relates to
Why would anyone commit massive crimes for marginal gains?
Factory farming
Why’s no one in jail for it?
It’s not illegal. I said “killings”, not “homicides” or “murders”.