The second epigraph is where it gets interesting for you:
This article surveys the evolutionary and game theoretical literature and suggests a new synthesis in the nature-nurture controversy. Gintian strong reciprocity is proposed as the main synthetic theory for evolutionary anthropology, and the thesis here defended is that the humanization process has been mainly one of “de-instinctivation”, that is, the substitution of hardwired behavior by the capabilities to handle cultural objects.
Thanks Arturo, and yes, I found it very interesting. I find the passage you’ve pulled particularly interesting in terms of AGI which seems to be following the same notion of “de-instinctivation” substitution narrow hardwiring for the ability to adapt to general situations.
I also found the critique of Utilitarian impartiality interesting, and it helped clarify my thinking in terms of the simulation. This model actually is founded on cognitive bias, treating it as a feature rather than a bug. So, incoming beliefs are only ever adopted when aligned with pre-existing beliefs and yet it is still impartial in that, given a conflicting belief an agent will always choose the strongest coalition of beliefs, letting beliefs with negative marginal value go freely. This is actually a very reasonable way to adopt beliefs (because we can only ever make decisions based on our prior knowledge) and yet has the natural result of bias that we observe in humans.
We are designed for social computation, not for individual rationality. Beyond the papers I comment in the pre-print, this book is a modern synthesis of Cultural Evolution Theory:
Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian Theory Can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences
Thank you very much! I think you will find this interesting:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aCEuvHrqzmBroNQPT/the-evolution-towards-the-blank-slate
The second epigraph is where it gets interesting for you:
This article surveys the evolutionary and game theoretical literature and suggests a new synthesis in the nature-nurture controversy. Gintian strong reciprocity is proposed as the main synthetic theory for evolutionary anthropology, and the thesis here defended is that the humanization process has been mainly one of “de-instinctivation”, that is, the substitution of hardwired behavior by the capabilities to handle cultural objects.
Thanks Arturo, and yes, I found it very interesting. I find the passage you’ve pulled particularly interesting in terms of AGI which seems to be following the same notion of “de-instinctivation” substitution narrow hardwiring for the ability to adapt to general situations.
I also found the critique of Utilitarian impartiality interesting, and it helped clarify my thinking in terms of the simulation. This model actually is founded on cognitive bias, treating it as a feature rather than a bug. So, incoming beliefs are only ever adopted when aligned with pre-existing beliefs and yet it is still impartial in that, given a conflicting belief an agent will always choose the strongest coalition of beliefs, letting beliefs with negative marginal value go freely. This is actually a very reasonable way to adopt beliefs (because we can only ever make decisions based on our prior knowledge) and yet has the natural result of bias that we observe in humans.
We are designed for social computation, not for individual rationality. Beyond the papers I comment in the pre-print, this book is a modern synthesis of Cultural Evolution Theory:
Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian Theory Can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences
https://www.amazon.es/Cultural-Evolution-Darwinian-Synthesize-Sciences/dp/0226520447
Thank you for your reference of Gonzalez’s paper.