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Anyone still think a hominid with cognitive facilities honed by evolutionary processes for small group interactions is (magically) up to the task of managing a
by crispinb 8y ago
Anyone still think a hominid with cognitive facilities honed by evolutionary processes for small group interactions is (magically) up to the task of managing a global civilisation?
- jeffmcmahan 8y agoThey're evidently capable of doing advanced mathematics and of producing microprocessors among many other things, so whatever we think about them managing the globe, their intellectual equipment goes well beyond "small group interactions".
- crispinb 8y agoThat's fair: we have managed a pretty remarkable act of scaffolding up from an impressive evolved set of cognitive abilities. My sloppy throwaway line didn't capture my thought, which should have encompassed far more than 'cognitive', and made clearer that it's specifically large group decision-making I don't believe us to be capable of. We only survived the 20th century by the skin of our teeth (it was dumb luck), few ecosystems (which constitute our home) will survive the 21st, and I doubt global civilisation can survive for long as their collapse proceeds apace.