Links to Consider, 3/3

Richard Wrangham on two types of aggression; Noah Smith on the San Francisco scene; Harry Lambert on Bari Weiss; Rob Henderson on masculinity that isn't toxic

Richard Wrangham writes,

Humans share with chimpanzees a higher propensity for proactive aggression than is found in bonobos. However, humans share with bonobos a lower propensity for severe reactive aggression than is found in chimpanzees.

Wrangham says that low reactive aggression is consistent with a Rousseau view that institutions provide an unnecessary limitation on humans who are basically good. But high proactive aggression is consistent with a Hobbes view that institutions provide a necessary restraint on humans who are otherwise evil.

Pointer from Lorenzo Warby. My own thoughts follow:

Proactive aggression corresponds to cold-blooded killing. I think of it as coming from the part of the brain that is “thinking slow,” planning and calculating. Reactive aggression corresponds to road rage. I think of it as coming from the part of the brain that is “thinking fast,” driven by instinct and emotion.

It seems to me that reducing reactive aggression in humans would require biological evolution. We would need to select against people who cannot control their rage.

Reducing proactive aggression would require cultural evolution. We would need to establish norms and institutions that serve to constrain proactive aggression.

Noah Smith writes,

People used to working in AI are nothing if not brilliant and relentless optimizers. And so they have, very logically and skillfully, set about crafting a lifestyle and a social scene that lets them solve the multi-armed bandit problem of finding a balance between yuppie social climbing and bohemian youth. The hacker houses and the communal spaces and the parties and retreats are dual-use products — to some degree at least, they let you live the romance of youth while also building your professional network.

The entire essay is fun to read. I commented that he should ask ChatGPT to rewrite it in the style of Tom Wolfe.

Also entertaining is Harry Lambert’s piece on Bari Weiss and the mean girls of the NYT.

Many American journalists – along with other, less fully employed writers, podcasters and allies – loathe Weiss. Their dislike is axiomatic. They do not need to refer to her by name when they traduce her online; they all know who they are talking about. “Bafflingly awful, even for her,” wrote one male reporter after a piece by Weiss in 2019 that they had all decided was Very Bad (by then, anything she did was Bad by default). “Like an infant did a book report,” the man affirmed, safe in the knowledge that his view of this female journalist was almost universally shared by his media set, at least among those who felt able to tweet.

Pointer from Ed West.

Rob Henderson writes,

Men are a mixed bag. Relative to women, men are more likely to commit reprehensible acts such as mass public shootings. However, men are also more likely to use their bodies as shields to protect their loved ones in the midst of such a horrific tragedy. Evolution and mate choice has led to despicable, as well as heroic, male behavior.

At the 2012 Aurora shooting there was one case of villainy and three cases of heroism. Broadly speaking, there are more good men than bad men. But, at least for now, our society concentrates on one and neglects the other.

Substacks referenced above:

@

An Instinct That's Basic and Deeper

@

Sunday West: February 26

@

AI Techies!