From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Fri Aug 30 2002 - 15:56:21 MDT
Lee Corbin,
I would rather drop the subject of alligators. I can see now that my reptile
argument is of little relavance to the greater subjects concerning human
altruism and the nature of neurological reward in humans.
> > Can you give me an example of human action for which there was no
> > motivation?
>
> Easy. I looked down just now and noticed that my ankles are
> crossed as I type. I don't remember putting them that way.
> I think it's a habit.
I think you crossed your ankles because you were motivated to feel more
comfortable.
> Another one: just now, pausing while I think, I looked
> to the left. Maybe it has to do with there being a close
> wall to my right. I don't know. It strains the language
> again, IMO, to say that I had a motivation for that.
I've seen studies that show that people look in certain directions to help
them understand certain types of problems, or to help them remember certain
types of data. Apparently the orientataton of one's eyes helps to stimulate
certain thinking processes. It is a subconscious process. If this was the
case for you then you were motivated by your desire to understand or
remember something.
Alternatively, you heard something at a subconscious level and the sound
seemed to come from your left. You looked in that direction then out
of a motivation to be aware of your environment. Or perhaps you
heard nothing but were scanning your environment anyway for the
simple purpose of being aware of it.
And there could a hundred other possible motivations for your seemingly
random desire to look to your left.
>From an evolutionary perspective it makes no sense that humans (or any
animal, for that matter) should expend energy for no reason.
> > Not so in his opinion. The suicide bomber decided that exploding himself
> > to kill others was more satisfying than getting drunk, else he would
> > have chosen to get drunk.
>
> I think if you asked him, he'd look a little puzzled at that and it's
because he thinks that he's making a sacrifice and
> I think that he's right. Even though I know its going to.hurt like
absolute hell, I would [etc etc]
I think you should stop trying to tell terrorists how they should think. :-)
If a person performs action A then it is because he decided that action A
would be more rewarding than actions B, C or D....
People choose to perform one action over another simply because they find
one action more rewarding than another action. People *never* choose the
second most rewarding action, because doing so would mean they had in fact
decided it was the most rewarding action.
There is no need for complicated second guessing.
-gts
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