Evolution and Thought: Why We Think the Way We Do

By Roger Bourke White Jr.

Ah, the mysteries of life.

A confidence man scams billions.

Politicians fear talking about issues.

Marriage is sweet, divorce is sour.

This is the human condition

But why is this the human condition?

That's what this book is about.

It's about why we humans think the way we do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 7, 2010
• ISBN: 9781449042011

Roger Bourke White Jr.

Roger White is a careful observer of life and people, and hes done so from many interesting perspectives. He was a soldier in Vietnam in the 60s, an engineering student at MIT in the 70s, a computer networking pioneer in the 80s, and a teacher in Korea in the 90s.

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© 2010 Roger Bourke White Jr.. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  06/26/2018

ISBN: 978-1-4490-4200-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4490-4201-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009911303

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedication

This is dedicated to all those who read this, enjoy it, and gain insight from doing so.

Acknowledgements

This book would not have come into being without the help of a lot of teachers and science magazines that instilled in me a love of and wonder at good, unbiased science. Thanks to that background, when I looked to science for answers, I find them.

My thanks to George Trosper and his fine editing skills. His help and advice have put the professional polish on this work of love for me.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Selection, the Gene Pool, Four Human Lifestyles

Adaptive and Instinctive Thinking

Humans are Diverse and the Diversity is Growing

One Final Comment from Mother Nature: If it’s good enough, it’s good enough.

LESSON ONE   In the Beginning …

Ten Thousand Experiments Later …

Three Exceptional Human Skills

Strong Language Skill and Technology Surprises

The Benefits of Strong Language Skill

Diminishing Returns Kick In:

Big Brains = Big Babies = Dead Mothers

Let’s Talk Environments

LESSON TWO   Welcome to Neolithic Village

The Environment

The Common Features

Thinking Adaptations to This Environment

Where Neolithic Village Environment Thinking Shows Up in Modern Society

Summary

LESSON THREE   Beauty, Brides, and Matrons

A Young Mother Needs Help

Child and Adult Thinking

Meanwhile … Back in the Village

The Reason for Seeing Beauty

Bride Thinking and Matron Thinking

The Root of All Fashion … and the Oldest Profession

How Does Beauty Affect Business?

Before We Leave the Village

LESSON FOUR   Looking Hot to … Your Mother-in-Law?

Patriarchy and Matriarchy

Overview of the Neolithic Village Environment

The Next Stage

LESSON FIVE   Pushing the Gene Pool in a New Direction: Adapting to Agriculture

The Agricultural Lifestyle

Leaving the Village Behind

Specifics of the Lifestyle Changes

Born Losers

Summary

LESSON SIX   Industrial Age Thinking

The Industrial Age Lifestyle

Industrial Age Thinking

LESSON SEVEN   Information Age Thinking

Between 1960 and 2010

LESSON EIGHT   Instinctive Thinking in Modern Times

A Review of Instinctive and Adaptive Thinking

Neolithic Village Insider/Outsider Thinking

LESSON NINE   The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Cooperating and Defecting

Doing Some Predicting

Effects on the Cost of the Deal

The Mutual Defection Environment

The Mutual Cooperation Environment

Choosing Between Environments

LESSON TEN   Delusion Thinking

LESSON ELEVEN   Worshipping at the Altar of the Holy Metal Detector

Executive Summary

Detailed Argument

Introduction

Attempting to Exploit False Positives

The Three Essentials of Religion

The Difference between Science and Religion

Where Science and Religion Mix

Why Does Aviation Involve Religion?

How Does Religion Express Itself in Aviation?

Why Was the Industry Blind-Sided?

Enter Hijacking and Terrorism

What Should the Aviation Industry Do?

Parameters for a Robust Faith System for Flying

Breaking the Linkage

An Example of a Cheap (and Good) Fix

EPILOG

INTRODUCTION

Whether it is just another unproven theory or not, there is great benefit in thinking that evolution can explain a lot of things about why we humans are what we are today.

The concept of evolutionary change can be used to predict why humans of today do what they do. It is an alternative to explaining peoples’ actions using such concepts as good or evil, greedy or generous, truthful or deceitful.

Using this new way of looking at people, as products of evolution, can help a lot in day-to-day life. For instance, when you are designing a new product, a marketing plan, or company policies and compensation, keeping the human condition in mind, as described by evolution, will make the results of your choices in these areas less surprising. Likewise, if someone comes to you asking that you give them some of your hard-earned money, are they pitching to your instinctive thinking or your analytic thinking?

Smooth sailing is the advantage of paying attention to the human condition. And to understand the human condition of today, you should understand where humans have come from—where they have evolved from.

Here are some examples of where using evolutionary understanding can make a difference.

Example: The old proverb Sex sells. There is truth to it, but what is the truth based on? Evolution offers a good answer. Check out the lesson on Beauty, Brides, and Matrons.

Example: Adults are afraid of strangers, but children are not. Check out the Welcome to Neolithic Village lesson.

Example: Divorces and bankruptcies are often bitter affairs. Check out the lesson on The Prisoner’s Dilemma.

This book is filled with practical examples such as those above, but above all, it is about two things.

First, it’s about how well adapted the humans are to living on our planet Earth. I will talk about how really neat, surprisingly neat, human adaptations are.

In our day-to-day lives we tend to bellyache a lot about being tired, getting hurt, getting sick, not being fast enough, strong enough, enduring long enough; we dream of perfected bodies that overcome all the aches and complaints we have. But in reality, humans are a tight fit to this world we live in. We are high performance. We are finely tuned. In this book I will talk a lot about what being finely tuned to our environment means.

Second, this book is about the future. I will talk about how our civilized environment is pushing the human gene pool to change in different ways than the non-civilized environment does.

An example of this: Some people say that because we now have good health care, people aren’t dying of disease as much, and that means that humans no longer