4 ms·

When Destructive Behavior Makes Biological Sense (2015)

57 points by dnetesn 9y ago

mfoy_ 9y ago
>Jay Belsky, a professor of human development at the University of California, Davis, predicted 25 years ago that growing up under conditions of adversity would accelerate sexual maturation, a prediction borne out by research. Wow! This was a really interesting takeaway that I did not know! I wonder if this contributes to the "bad boy" trope of the "troubled hot guy in highschool". (i.e. he's hit puberty early because of instability at home). I wonder if this also contributes to the "latebloomers" and "nerdy kid" tropes related to coming from more stable environments. Of course there are dozens of more plausible explanations for each, but it'd be neat if this was a statistically significant factor.
- pvaldes 9y ago
  This happens also in populations of animals subject to an increasing predation pressure.
tjwds 9y ago
I've been thinking about this a bit lately in the context of the Freudian death drive [0] — risk being a part of the will that drives us to do things and build relationships. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive
otakucode 9y ago
I have always found the lack of inclusion of self-harming and self-sacrificing strategies as a fundamental limitation of game theory and similar analysis. If your intention is to consider every strategy, why wouldn't you consider the strategy of self-sacrifice? That opens many different possibilities, especially when considering changing populations and heterogenous populations. If considering something like the Cold War standoff, what would have been the consequence had the USSR exploded a nuclear weapon in one of their satellite states and claimed it was the work of the US or their allies? False attribution requires self-harm. False flag attacks require self-harm. Many strategies in the overall scheme of things require it, yet in most analysis it is wholly absent.
- alexpotato 9y ago
  Apparently France's nuclear strategy fell into the category of "self-sacrifice". Essentially it was: "We don't have ICBMs but we do have nukes. If you invade us, we will nuke you even if you are on our territory and even it is at great cost to ourselves."

57 points by dnetesn 9y ago

>Jay Belsky, a professor of human development at the University of California, Davis, predicted 25 years ago that growing up under conditions of adversity would accelerate sexual maturation, a prediction borne out by research. Wow! This was a really interesting takeaway that I did not know! I wonder if this contributes to the "bad boy" trope of the "troubled hot guy in highschool". (i.e. he's hit puberty early because of instability at home). I wonder if this also contributes to the "latebloomers" and "nerdy kid" tropes related to coming from more stable environments. Of course there are dozens of more plausible explanations for each, but it'd be neat if this was a statistically significant factor.

pvaldes 9y ago
This happens also in populations of animals subject to an increasing predation pressure.

tjwds 9y ago

I've been thinking about this a bit lately in the context of the Freudian death drive [0] — risk being a part of the will that drives us to do things and build relationships. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive

otakucode 9y ago

I have always found the lack of inclusion of self-harming and self-sacrificing strategies as a fundamental limitation of game theory and similar analysis. If your intention is to consider every strategy, why wouldn't you consider the strategy of self-sacrifice? That opens many different possibilities, especially when considering changing populations and heterogenous populations. If considering something like the Cold War standoff, what would have been the consequence had the USSR exploded a nuclear weapon in one of their satellite states and claimed it was the work of the US or their allies? False attribution requires self-harm. False flag attacks require self-harm. Many strategies in the overall scheme of things require it, yet in most analysis it is wholly absent.

alexpotato 9y ago
Apparently France's nuclear strategy fell into the category of "self-sacrifice". Essentially it was: "We don't have ICBMs but we do have nukes. If you invade us, we will nuke you even if you are on our territory and even it is at great cost to ourselves."