Thanks, interesting points. Sexual desires are evolved terminal desires and so not a counterexample in my view. Food appetites and aversions are also terminal desires and represent a risk-averse evolutionary strategy (fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, genetic oblivion). Music I’m not so sure--that might be a byproduct of the fact…
Thanks, interesting points. Sexual desires are evolved terminal desires and so not a counterexample in my view. Food appetites and aversions are also terminal desires and represent a risk-averse evolutionary strategy (fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, genetic oblivion). Music I’m not so sure--that might be a byproduct of the fact that our social environments also crystallize in youth, but we don’t yet have a good evolutionary theory of music (it’s still a mystery imo), so I don’t think this is a strong piece of evidence one way or the other, without knowing more about wtf music is for. Post trauma makes sense for ultra unexpectedly low value experiences that absolutely cannot happen again (another kind of evolutionary risk aversion--just normal reinforcement learning applied to an extreme case). I’m skeptical of lifelong hobbies that aren’t socially rewarded. That might happen for autistic people with social deficits, but I have a hard time imagining neurotypical people who fixate on trains their whole life despite getting ridiculed for it. So I still don’t buy it, but I appreciate the friendly and thoughtful pushback.
Thanks, interesting points. Sexual desires are evolved terminal desires and so not a counterexample in my view. Food appetites and aversions are also terminal desires and represent a risk-averse evolutionary strategy (fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, genetic oblivion). Music I’m not so sure--that might be a byproduct of the fact that our social environments also crystallize in youth, but we don’t yet have a good evolutionary theory of music (it’s still a mystery imo), so I don’t think this is a strong piece of evidence one way or the other, without knowing more about wtf music is for. Post trauma makes sense for ultra unexpectedly low value experiences that absolutely cannot happen again (another kind of evolutionary risk aversion--just normal reinforcement learning applied to an extreme case). I’m skeptical of lifelong hobbies that aren’t socially rewarded. That might happen for autistic people with social deficits, but I have a hard time imagining neurotypical people who fixate on trains their whole life despite getting ridiculed for it. So I still don’t buy it, but I appreciate the friendly and thoughtful pushback.