5 Million Years Flashcards
What does environmental change have to do with morality?
Humans began to diverge from our common ancestors after major environmental change left us roaming savannas and dogging predators and no longer able to hide up trees.
What does the prisoners dilemma?
In a nutshell it weighs the costs/benefits of co-operation when you are unsure what the other person will do.
Where does natural and sexual selection come into it?
Natural selection occurs on a population level and over time mutations that provide advantage and foster more descendants win out. Less clear on sexual selection but this is more preference based.
What is the tragedy of the commons?
That its always rational for one person to free-ride on the cooperation of others. Leading eventually to failure of cooperation.
Are humans co-operative or not?
Humans are co-operative. Evolved co-operation in small bands but also led to rivalry and violence with other bands.
Why is war co-operative?
You are sacrificing yourself for the gain of the bigger group.
Why might humans not evolved out of Africa?
We might just be seeing bones etc that have been thrown up because of particular geological events. These may lie hidden elsewhere,
What do children prefer from an early age?
Prefer to see co-operative actions over non-cooperative.
Why might apes behaviour not be a guide to humans?
Rather than apes providing evidence of qualities that helped human evolution the fact that they have these may prove the opposite. If empathy and grooming alone provided the co-operation allowing evolution then why haven’t apes evolved.
Why does evolutionary psychology have a bad reputation?
Saying things like men like providing because they went hunting and women like shoes because they gathered pretty berries! But just because some is bullshit doesn’t mean all is.
What is the optimum group for humans without institutions?
150
What is vaccine free ridering?
Immoral not unreasonable for the individual
What sort of group intentions might early humans have formed?
Group intention to hunt for meat. 5 men could catch a rabbit each. 6 men could also do this or catch a stag between them.
Why is eating sugar an adaptive behaviour?
Evolved to take any chance of carbs in environment of scarcity. But no longer needed.
Why does cancer persist after these millions of years of evolution?
Body only needs to adapt well while still in reproductive mode. Doesn’t care about body after reproductive age.
What would a variation towards altruism in a group of selfish lead to? And vice versa?
Failure. Altruist would be doomed.
Who called Darwinism the universal acid?
Dennett. Because it dissolved so many previous certainties.
What is the selfish gene?
Human behaviour not determined ultimately at individual or population level but at gene level. These are replicators and we are vehicles. Why we confused about apparently redundant genetic material that apparently serves no purpose. It doesn’t need to be- all the gene cares about is reproducing.
Why and how is cooperation eventually adaptive?
There is a formula that says that as long as the reward for altrusism is high and the cost to the altruist relatively low then it may happen. This happens in relation to close relatives since the genes are helping their close relatives. Happens to wider group (those that people can see) on tit for tat basis. So grudging co-operators will continue to co-operate if others do but withdraw immediately if others take advantage. Eventually weeds out purely selfish, naive cooperators and leaves the tit for tatters to get on with it.
What did the lack of evidence for how cooperation/ altruism evolve lead to in first half of 20th C?
People continuing to use this as fall back for God. Later loosing purchase - selfish gene theory and later successfully modelling of how and what co-operative behaviours work (tit for tat).
