From: Sally Pitts (sally2887@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Sep 24 2002 - 13:13:12 MDT
>From: "Hal Finney" <hal@finney.org>
I agree with the thesis and arrived at the same general conclusion a couple
of years ago (that we are a puppet of our genes, and that our apparent
motivations and reasonings are often a subterfuge for genetic/mating
motivations).
However this interesting quote from the cited web page raises a question:
>>>The theory is that we similarly have "mating minds", i.e., minds that are
>>>designed in large part to impress potential mates and allies. When we
>>>display to observers how agile and creative we are at love, humor, talk,
>>>story, art, music, fashion, sport, charity, religion, and abstract ideas,
>>>we show those observers that we have high quality genes, with few bad
>>>mutations. Having such minds also helps us to judge the quality of
>>>others' genes from their displays. >>>
But that would make Cliff Claven (a trivia buff and wannabe polymath barfly
from the TV series Cheers) the ideal mate (he wasn't!).
So how does this theory jibe with the fact that know-it-alls are not
particularly popular?
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