There is a metaphor I’ve heard, relevant to this problem.
Say a deer was granted the magical superpower to detect predators (and recognize them as such) from hundreds of miles away, with no other changes to it’s psychology. This seems at first blush as though it would be a tremendous advantage: no predator’s senses can compare, so the deer should be able to evade pursuit with trivial ease, grow fat, mate frequently, etc. Unfortunately, it’s not very clever; the state of constantly being apparently surrounded by predators, some of which are at any given time (by sheer chance) moving directly towards it, leaves the deer in a constant state of panic. In a few hours it collapses from blind exhaustion and is eventually eaten by something or other.
Humans are smarter than deer, and have been known to look away from the news from time to time, so we remember to breed and generally make it through from one day to the next. That doesn’t mean we’re actually benefiting from this particular capability, on an individual level.
There is a metaphor I’ve heard, relevant to this problem.
Say a deer was granted the magical superpower to detect predators (and recognize them as such) from hundreds of miles away, with no other changes to it’s psychology. This seems at first blush as though it would be a tremendous advantage: no predator’s senses can compare, so the deer should be able to evade pursuit with trivial ease, grow fat, mate frequently, etc. Unfortunately, it’s not very clever; the state of constantly being apparently surrounded by predators, some of which are at any given time (by sheer chance) moving directly towards it, leaves the deer in a constant state of panic. In a few hours it collapses from blind exhaustion and is eventually eaten by something or other.
Humans are smarter than deer, and have been known to look away from the news from time to time, so we remember to breed and generally make it through from one day to the next. That doesn’t mean we’re actually benefiting from this particular capability, on an individual level.