this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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There's the pseudoscience, then there's the useful stuff. Natural selection is a good rational for human cooperation, for instance, and can be a way to explain why we have a conscience and feel guilt, etc.. You know, apes together strong.
Of course, it's also still hypothetical, but it's at least better than the philosophical/metaphysical way we explain why we behave ourselves. Just wish the good stuff wasn't drown out by people with dumb takes.
The problem is there isn't anything "useful" for understanding humans [in evolutionary psychology]. Yes we can come up with plausible evolutionary justifications for behavior like cooperation, but they are basically untestable and useless for predictions.
Edited to clarify I mean specifically evolutionary psychology.
There's game theory in human behaviour, very testable and useful.
it's perfectly usable for predictions, basic evolutionary psychology tells me that humans are hilariously deeply programmed to be social, and knowing that gives you the confidence to make use of it.
Just like monkeys grooming each other, we humans can simply give small gifts or go out of our way to do something nice, and that will create trust between people extremely quickly with barely any effort.
I gave an old dusty xbox to a neighbouring family with kids and that was a significant enough gift that their dad basically instantly classed me as a friend and a few weeks later he came over with homemade pierogis.
Just thinking about our evolution and looking a bit at recorded history kinda provides a user manual for being human, honestly.
I agree with your sentiment about positive social interactions being important.
But the thing is, and I think that's what the poster you were replying to meant, that you need zero knowledge about evolution to notice that. Everyone notices it in daily life. Scientific studies give us evidence about our social nature. If we didn't know about evolution, the conclusion would still be the same: we are deeply programmed to be social. If the same conclusion is reached with or without a specific piece of information, then that information is useless for predictions, like the previous poster said. Or are you in all seriousness telling me that the reason you gifted your XBox to a kid was that you have an understanding of evolution??? And without that understanding, you wouldn't have thought of making that gift?
Yes, that is precisely what I was attempting to say. Thanks