The second book has the explanation, the first, is the mechanism. The oxitocin as many other hormones, are a mechanism that fix or promotes a set of behaviours instead of others. Hormonal discharge is the mechanism that the mammals have for modulating middle-long term responses. (For short term responses, they use electrical discharges in the nervous tissue). The discharged hormone flows trough the brain and adjust the responses of various mental modules. But this is a mechanism, not a magic substance that produces love, in the same way that the binary code is not a source of wishdom, even if it is used by computers.
The evolutionary explanation is the interesting one. Many people say that the switch to more collaborative behaviours in humans appeared around 50.000- 60.000 years ago, when the human population nearly dissapeared. By the way, the cheetah also had an extreme episode of near-extinction whose result is that al cheetah are almost equal genetically and very peaceful between them. We humans also are extraordinarily similar and peaceful, in relative terms. Both cases may be related with small survival spots surrounded by very challenging environments, that produced migrations , overpopulation of these spots. This produced harsh conflicts, but the sports that managed to make use of the knowledge and mutual help of wide group survived. And may be that only one of them did, because this group was no more that 1000 individuals. Perhaps they survived thanks to a peaceful leader? A christ of the stone age that selected their followers from the peaceful ones? was ºit a mutant clan?. My hypotesis is that Jesus Christ in evoked the instinctive feelings developped 50.000 years ago. The human empathy goes beyond thit-for-that. Humans may be almost pure altruistic. Many people sincerely die for causes that will give nothing for him (although it would give to their descendants, and this is enough for evolution to select pure altruism). Pure altruism is not stable, But it is stable when there is a mechanism of collective altruistic, detection and punishment of free riders, However the selfish tendencies are not maladaptations. They are more primitive, but they are part of our nature.and are determinant in how human society works. To be selfish with you is good if there is loyalty (selflessness) around a wider whole that embrace you and me, and both you and me work for it. Selfishness inside selflessness make human society sucessful. 2012/7/24 Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be> > Hi Russell, > > > Le 24-juil.-12, à 01:30, Russell Standish a écrit : > > > This one comes through loud and clear. Just curious to know what brand >> of emailer you have in your office that is so non-standard. >> >> Hope your internet connection at home is sorted out soon. I would be >> ropable if it happened to me (and so would the rest of my family). (In >> fact I was - it has happened twice over the last 12 years or so.) My >> business depends on it. >> > > > It is really very annoying. Two electricians have come. The first found > just nothing, and the second one eventually came to the conclusion that the > problem comes from outside my building, somewhere below the pavement of the > streets. It will not be solved soon, I am afraid. > > I use the standard Emailer of the Mac, but in my office, my applications > are hard to update, for I have an old operating system. > > Best, > > Bruno > > > > > >> Cheers >> >> On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 11:32:50AM +0200, Bruno Marchal wrote: >> >>> Hi Russell, >>> >>> Can you read this one? I have lost my connection at home, and >>> apparently the problem is in the street, and it will take time to >>> fix it. >>> I use my emailer at my office, but it is a bit old. Apparently >>> Stephen and Brent get my messages on the everything list. >>> >>> I might be hard to connect with for some time ... >>> >>> Best, >>> >>> Bruno >>> >>> PS I cc this on the everything list. >>> >>> >>> Le 23-juil.-12, à 07:10, Russell Standish a écrit : >>> >>> Hi Bruno, >>>> >>>> There appears to be an invalid setting on your email client, as all >>>> your emails are coming out blank (as below). >>>> >>>> I can see your text by switching to a different mime part (something >>>> called text/enriched), but AFAIK, this is not a standard email type. >>>> >>>> Cheers >>>> >>>> On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 01:29:46PM +0200, Bruno Marchal wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> ------------------------------**------------------------------** >>>> ----------- >>>> ----- >>>> Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) >>>> Principal, High Performance Coders >>>> Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au >>>> University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au >>>> ------------------------------**------------------------------** >>>> ----------- >>>> ----- >>>> >>>> >>>> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~**marchal/<http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Everything List" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to >>> everything-list@googlegroups.**com<everything-list@googlegroups.com> >>> . >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> everything-list+unsubscribe@**googlegroups.com<everything-list%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> >>> . >>> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** >>> group/everything-list?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en> >>> . >>> >> >> -- >> >> ------------------------------**------------------------------** >> ---------------- >> Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) >> Principal, High Performance Coders >> Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au >> University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au >> ------------------------------**------------------------------** >> ---------------- >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Everything List" group. >> To post to this group, send email to >> everything-list@googlegroups.**com<everything-list@googlegroups.com> >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> everything-list+unsubscribe@**googlegroups.com<everything-list%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** >> group/everything-list?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en> >> . >> >> >> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~**marchal/ <http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To post to this group, send email to > everything-list@googlegroups.**com<everything-list@googlegroups.com> > . > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscribe@ > **googlegroups.com <everything-list%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** > group/everything-list?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en> > . > > -- Alberto. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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