Curt Doolittle

Category: Human Behavior and Cognitive Science

  • Using Horizontal and Vertical Classes

    —“Curt, I’d like to ask about your break down of class. It seems based on IQ and income level is that a correct assessment?”— Um… well, I use genetic, social, occupational, and economic classes – even though they overlap a great deal as horizontal classes. And I use the three specializations in means of coercion as vertical classes. But since there is such a high correlation between genetic classes and all other horizontal classes, unless I say otherwise, I am generally referring to genetic classes. And genetic class refers to a portfolio of fitnesses that include IQ as well as personality, morphology, and health. So with that qualification, I think I would say that just as IQ a high predictor in life, it is not the only predictor. But for purpose of general argument it is as good a rule of thumb as any other. Curt Doolittle

  • Lying By Willful or Un-Willful Ignorance?

    LYING BY INTENT, OR LYING BY LACKING DISCIPLINE AND AGENCY? FYI: On “Lying” our position is that our genes drive our intuition, and our intuition biases our reason, such that we are constantly negotiating on behalf of our reproductive strategy and are entirely unconscious of it. Therefore we seek to produce ‘agency’ under which we are free of the genes, the intuition(elephant), and that our reason (Rider) is in control. (think of it as a very scientific take on stoicism. So in this sense it is quite easy for people who have not achieved agency (insulation from our genes and intuition) to lie by NOT working sufficiently to possess agency, and therefore remaining an attractor, and distributor of falsehoods (lies). And so just as you must carefully examine your senses to speak honestly, you must carefully develop the skill of truthfulness so that you do not attract and distribute lies and falsehoods. -cheers

  • Lying By Willful or Un-Willful Ignorance?

    LYING BY INTENT, OR LYING BY LACKING DISCIPLINE AND AGENCY? FYI: On “Lying” our position is that our genes drive our intuition, and our intuition biases our reason, such that we are constantly negotiating on behalf of our reproductive strategy and are entirely unconscious of it. Therefore we seek to produce ‘agency’ under which we are free of the genes, the intuition(elephant), and that our reason (Rider) is in control. (think of it as a very scientific take on stoicism. So in this sense it is quite easy for people who have not achieved agency (insulation from our genes and intuition) to lie by NOT working sufficiently to possess agency, and therefore remaining an attractor, and distributor of falsehoods (lies). And so just as you must carefully examine your senses to speak honestly, you must carefully develop the skill of truthfulness so that you do not attract and distribute lies and falsehoods. -cheers

  • The Lies We Seek To Tell: Evolutionary Biases.

    LIES WE SEEK TO TELL: THE BIASES BUILT UPON OUR ANCIENT ‘CIRCUITS’ by William Butchman “the lies they seek to tell” Human bias is interesting. We have evolved machinery in our brains, and we are processing novel situations with these ancient systems, processing things that they were never designed to process. We use these mental models which are simplistic, and when something happens in the universe which breaks our model (because we don’t account for it) we ‘startle’ and a circuit built for snakes is activated. (I don’t know if I have this exactly right, I’ve only heard it once) (From elsewhere:) Why we believe snakes are the most evil things: Dr. Peterson suggested that the reason why we have a particular antipathy towards snakes is because we’ve long been their prey (since our ancestors were tiny rodents). I believe our fear and terror and hatred of snakes might also be particularly strong because they continued to kill us long after we outgrew the other reptilian predators (once you’ve evolved to be monkey-sized, you can handle lizards because you’re big enough to fight them and you can see far enough around you to avoid them. But you can’t see so well around your feet or the topside of tall branches, aka where snakes lurk. The threats we fear most are the ones we can’t see, Snakes happen to fit into all the hard to see places. There’s also something particularly traumatizing about having one of your primate relatives eaten by a snake as opposed to any other predator. Their deaths are the most agonizing. Unlike one of those big cats with teeth evolved to puncture skulls or a wolf that goes for the jugular, snakes kill by poison or suffocation and they swallow prey whole. Oftentimes over the course of several hours. Prior to human inventiveness, I can’t imagine a more torturous and agonizing way to die. Snakes: these surprising dangers that lurk and jump out at us. We startle as we try to assess, an ancient circuit is activated. So, we have a bias to express the unknown, dangers, as snakes. At least this is the evolutionary theory of the prevalence of the mythology. So, I can see (if this is true) how our biases may be built on ancient circuits.

  • The Lies We Seek To Tell: Evolutionary Biases.

    LIES WE SEEK TO TELL: THE BIASES BUILT UPON OUR ANCIENT ‘CIRCUITS’ by William Butchman “the lies they seek to tell” Human bias is interesting. We have evolved machinery in our brains, and we are processing novel situations with these ancient systems, processing things that they were never designed to process. We use these mental models which are simplistic, and when something happens in the universe which breaks our model (because we don’t account for it) we ‘startle’ and a circuit built for snakes is activated. (I don’t know if I have this exactly right, I’ve only heard it once) (From elsewhere:) Why we believe snakes are the most evil things: Dr. Peterson suggested that the reason why we have a particular antipathy towards snakes is because we’ve long been their prey (since our ancestors were tiny rodents). I believe our fear and terror and hatred of snakes might also be particularly strong because they continued to kill us long after we outgrew the other reptilian predators (once you’ve evolved to be monkey-sized, you can handle lizards because you’re big enough to fight them and you can see far enough around you to avoid them. But you can’t see so well around your feet or the topside of tall branches, aka where snakes lurk. The threats we fear most are the ones we can’t see, Snakes happen to fit into all the hard to see places. There’s also something particularly traumatizing about having one of your primate relatives eaten by a snake as opposed to any other predator. Their deaths are the most agonizing. Unlike one of those big cats with teeth evolved to puncture skulls or a wolf that goes for the jugular, snakes kill by poison or suffocation and they swallow prey whole. Oftentimes over the course of several hours. Prior to human inventiveness, I can’t imagine a more torturous and agonizing way to die. Snakes: these surprising dangers that lurk and jump out at us. We startle as we try to assess, an ancient circuit is activated. So, we have a bias to express the unknown, dangers, as snakes. At least this is the evolutionary theory of the prevalence of the mythology. So, I can see (if this is true) how our biases may be built on ancient circuits.

  • “Again, women don’t have political agency. They’re simply not culpable and I don

    —“Again, women don’t have political agency. They’re simply not culpable and I don’t see what that sort of arguing leads to.”—Simon Ström

    (and men don’t have child-rearing instincts (empathy) as a cost of obtaining our agency)

    Source date (UTC): 2017-03-17 09:01:00 UTC

  • Why Do U.s. Americans Give False Comments Of Appreciation?

    America is a high trust society. We allow people to perform below their capacity, or even fail, as long as (a) they try hard, (b) they are honest.

    When an american says something complimentary he is saying, ‘you can trust me to act in your interests even if you are imperfect or fail’, or ‘as long as you are honest and trying hard we will not criticize you, and will only offer advice if asked’.

    In other words, we cannot fix everthing, education of others is costly, education of others may be unwanted, and people getnerally will learn on their own. If you’re adding benefit to something, it is not our place to create more benefit. It is our place only to prevent harm. By preventing harm, most people will achieve success at their own rates, and learn to be independent.

    By this process we “Teach Men to Fish” at their own pace, at their own choice, and we ‘eliminate’ the people who (a) dont try hard (b) aren’t honest. If we instruct people then they learn only to obey commands.

    FWIW: Most of our charity work in the world has caused more harm than good. It is not clear that aside from teaching literacy, and providing health care, that we do any good at all. Although in retrospect, bringing christianity rather than islam has been one of the great achievements of western civilization. Christianity builds commerce and literacy, and islam creates illiteracy ignorance and poverty.

    https://www.quora.com/Why-do-U-S-Americans-give-false-comments-of-appreciation

  • Why Do U.s. Americans Give False Comments Of Appreciation?

    America is a high trust society. We allow people to perform below their capacity, or even fail, as long as (a) they try hard, (b) they are honest.

    When an american says something complimentary he is saying, ‘you can trust me to act in your interests even if you are imperfect or fail’, or ‘as long as you are honest and trying hard we will not criticize you, and will only offer advice if asked’.

    In other words, we cannot fix everthing, education of others is costly, education of others may be unwanted, and people getnerally will learn on their own. If you’re adding benefit to something, it is not our place to create more benefit. It is our place only to prevent harm. By preventing harm, most people will achieve success at their own rates, and learn to be independent.

    By this process we “Teach Men to Fish” at their own pace, at their own choice, and we ‘eliminate’ the people who (a) dont try hard (b) aren’t honest. If we instruct people then they learn only to obey commands.

    FWIW: Most of our charity work in the world has caused more harm than good. It is not clear that aside from teaching literacy, and providing health care, that we do any good at all. Although in retrospect, bringing christianity rather than islam has been one of the great achievements of western civilization. Christianity builds commerce and literacy, and islam creates illiteracy ignorance and poverty.

    https://www.quora.com/Why-do-U-S-Americans-give-false-comments-of-appreciation

  • LIES WE SEEK TO TELL: THE BIASES BUILT UPON OUR ANCIENT ‘CIRCUITS’ by William Bu

    LIES WE SEEK TO TELL: THE BIASES BUILT UPON OUR ANCIENT ‘CIRCUITS’

    by William Butchman

    “the lies they seek to tell”

    Human bias is interesting. We have evolved machinery in our brains, and we are processing novel situations with these ancient systems, processing things that they were never designed to process. We use these mental models which are simplistic, and when something happens in the universe which breaks our model (because we don’t account for it) we ‘startle’ and a circuit built for snakes is activated. (I don’t know if I have this exactly right, I’ve only heard it once)

    (From elsewhere:)

    Why we believe snakes are the most evil things: Dr. Peterson suggested that the reason why we have a particular antipathy towards snakes is because we’ve long been their prey (since our ancestors were tiny rodents). I believe our fear and terror and hatred of snakes might also be particularly strong because they continued to kill us long after we outgrew the other reptilian predators (once you’ve evolved to be monkey-sized, you can handle lizards because you’re big enough to fight them and you can see far enough around you to avoid them. But you can’t see so well around your feet or the topside of tall branches, aka where snakes lurk. The threats we fear most are the ones we can’t see, Snakes happen to fit into all the hard to see places. There’s also something particularly traumatizing about having one of your primate relatives eaten by a snake as opposed to any other predator. Their deaths are the most agonizing. Unlike one of those big cats with teeth evolved to puncture skulls or a wolf that goes for the jugular, snakes kill by poison or suffocation and they swallow prey whole. Oftentimes over the course of several hours. Prior to human inventiveness, I can’t imagine a more torturous and agonizing way to die.

    Snakes: these surprising dangers that lurk and jump out at us. We startle as we try to assess, an ancient circuit is activated. So, we have a bias to express the unknown, dangers, as snakes.

    At least this is the evolutionary theory of the prevalence of the mythology. So, I can see (if this is true) how our biases may be built on ancient circuits.

    Source date (UTC): 2017-03-16 16:51:00 UTC

  • LYING BY INTENT, OR LYING BY LACKING DISCIPLINE AND AGENCY? FYI: On “Lying” our

    LYING BY INTENT, OR LYING BY LACKING DISCIPLINE AND AGENCY?

    FYI: On “Lying” our position is that our genes drive our intuition, and our intuition biases our reason, such that we are constantly negotiating on behalf of our reproductive strategy and are entirely unconscious of it. Therefore we seek to produce ‘agency’ under which we are free of the genes, the intuition(elephant), and that our reason (Rider) is in control. (think of it as a very scientific take on stoicism. So in this sense it is quite easy for people who have not achieved agency (insulation from our genes and intuition) to lie by NOT working sufficiently to possess agency, and therefore remaining an attractor, and distributor of falsehoods (lies). And so just as you must carefully examine your senses to speak honestly, you must carefully develop the skill of truthfulness so that you do not attract and distribute lies and falsehoods. -cheers

    Source date (UTC): 2017-03-16 16:46:00 UTC