Re: poly: Why Oldies Stations?

Anders writes:
>... I wouldn't be too surprised if there really was an
>"youthful idealism hormone" or combination of neural maturation and
>hormones with these effects. Maybe it could be done using less drastic
>psychochemistry than hallucinogens.
>
>> > Is it a good idea?
>I think it will become more necessary if we continue to live in a
>changing world and living longer. Imagine having basic reality models
>several ages out of date ("What do you mean, ridgeways conhabeas,
>young man? Is it some kind of new-fangled nanotechnology?"); we likely
>need a periodic contact with the new realities.

It seems clear that humans have a remarkable range of ways to adapt to
new circumstances. I don't see any particular reason to think that we
will have special trouble adapting our exploration behavior to our lifetimes.
Sure we'd have trouble if this were hardcoded in our genes, but what reason
is there to think that this behavior is more hard coded than all the other
things that people have successfully adapted?

Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-8614
Received on Fri Apr 3 18:33:19 1998