suffering or reactions to perceived fear is still real suffering and real reactions
True, but the interesting question is which link in the causal chain do you snip to make it stop (and you need to correctly identify the causal chain before that).
Can I override my base biological instinct that hates outsiders who attack? … an evolutionary miscalibration with the modern age
What’s wrong with hating outsiders who attack? Those who lose the self-defense instinct soon lose everything else.
I have a friend who has been too scared to leave her house for weeks since Trump got elected.
That seems to be a clinical case in need of medical help.
But if we try to optimize society with respect to our (argued) irrational suffering, we might end up with bad policy outcomes!
Not necessarily. To get back to the start of this comment, you need to correctly identify the causal chain and then figure out the easiest (or least expensive) link at which to break it. In this case I might argue that the real cause is overprotective upbringing and high preference for staying in an echo chamber / comfortable bubble. As one blog phrased it, if are growing up as a gazelle in a petting zoo, finding yourself on the Serengeti plains will not lead to good outcomes :-/
True, but the interesting question is which link in the causal chain do you snip to make it stop (and you need to correctly identify the causal chain before that).
What’s wrong with hating outsiders who attack? Those who lose the self-defense instinct soon lose everything else.
That seems to be a clinical case in need of medical help.
Not necessarily. To get back to the start of this comment, you need to correctly identify the causal chain and then figure out the easiest (or least expensive) link at which to break it. In this case I might argue that the real cause is overprotective upbringing and high preference for staying in an echo chamber / comfortable bubble. As one blog phrased it, if are growing up as a gazelle in a petting zoo, finding yourself on the Serengeti plains will not lead to good outcomes :-/