Re: [asa] prisoner's dilemma

Merv wrote (in part):

> That is why attempts like 'prisoner's dilemma' are important to understand
> I
> think. In order to show how 'selfish, mindless genes' can occassionally
> forgo
> the immediate payoff for the sake of community, they are postulating (and
> not
> altogether unconvincingly) that natural selection could operate at the level
> of
> community or even culture, to benefit cultures that have morals and
> self-imposed
> restrictions may "out-survive" cultures with none -- or different ones.
>
>

I can basically agree. At any rate, it is something that
we need to examine, because it can do a lot to dig into who
we are as individuals. I _can_ see that there are games at
all levels and that we play them.

You might even reduce it down to thermodynamic-like ensembles
where the dominant state becomes that long term "payoff".

But taken too far, we can reach the conclusion that other
even "beneficial" aspects of our psychology such as
our a desire for meaning and our need for hope are all just
illusion. These would be simply things that helped us survive;
nothing more. It strikes me as almost paradoxical that
to believe in God has helped the human race survive, yet
there is no such thing: just a blind pitiless universe
and selfish games to optimize the perpetuation of our genes.

It seems like one of the things that is missing is why these things
should even matter at all.

by Grace we proceed,
Wayne

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Received on Tue Aug 15 21:48:56 2006