Richard Wrangham begins The Goodness Paradox with the thought that 200 people will peacefully board an aircraft and sit peacefully for a 6-hour flight. 200 chimps would get into innumerable fights in the terminal. On the other hand, no chimps would conspire together to blow up the plane. Why the difference? His answer is “self-domestication”. Proto-humans with a lot of “reactive aggression” were killed or exiled by their group-mates. But doing so required feeling out your group-mates. How much did the asshole’s behavior bother him, him, and her? What did they think of …? What if … ? Language was helpful to putting together a conspiracy and then carrying out any plans. People who could do so were better able to survive because their groups could do more (more co-operators and fewer defectors).
Richard Wrangham begins The Goodness Paradox with the thought that 200 people will peacefully board an aircraft and sit peacefully for a 6-hour flight. 200 chimps would get into innumerable fights in the terminal. On the other hand, no chimps would conspire together to blow up the plane. Why the difference? His answer is “self-domestication”. Proto-humans with a lot of “reactive aggression” were killed or exiled by their group-mates. But doing so required feeling out your group-mates. How much did the asshole’s behavior bother him, him, and her? What did they think of …? What if … ? Language was helpful to putting together a conspiracy and then carrying out any plans. People who could do so were better able to survive because their groups could do more (more co-operators and fewer defectors).