According to evolutionary theory, emotions evolved because they were helpful for survival. Anxiety alerts us to potential danger and makes us wary. Anger motivates us to fight and shows our allies that we need help. Jealousy motivates us to keep our mates to ourselves to help maximize the number of our offspring that survive to child-bearing age. But the environment we live in today is obviously very different from the environment of our distant ancestors for whom these emotions were optimized. ...
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evolution
Should We Trust Our Gut? – The Idealization of Intuition and Instinct
This is an old essay written in December 2009. I'm posting it on this site (with minor edits) today, January 13, 2023.
It is common to hear advice that amounts to "going with your gut," "trusting your instincts," or "following your intuition." But these suggestions seem to indicate that the answers we arrive at through careful thought are sometimes (or perhaps usually) inferior to our immediate reactions.
Consider the following representative quotes:
Keep the faith, don't lose yo...
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The Missing Definition Of Morality
It is common to hear discussions of whether something is moral or immoral, as if "moral" were a word with a specific, agreed-upon meaning. Unfortunately, the word has so many meanings that its interpretation is extremely difficult without extra information. For example, if I say "murder is immoral", I could actually mean any of the following:
1. Murder violates an abstract principle that I would like all people to live by.
2. The Bible (or some other religious text) forbids murder.
3. ...
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Genesis according to science: The Empirical Creation Story
This was first written on February 8, 2009. I put it up on this site on February 10, 2023.
1 In the beginning, the big bang created the heavens.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 The universe was formless and infinitesimal. Plasma hotter than a thousand suns permeated the explosively expanding fabric of space.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of t...
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