Laughing Uncontrollably

Tom D,


You said "How could you not know I was poking fun at you and Sunshine and Jimbo and everyone else who is so quick to jump to Paradise’s defense whenever it comes under attack? Korean Bots!? What the hell is a Korean Bot? Did you think I’d lost my mind?"


I appreciated the humour in your first Anti-Kook post but this one had me rolling on the floor. I must admit that at least a small glimmer of hope touched my heart while reading your initial response to GrannyMae but then reality set in and it was clear you were writing tongue-in-cheek!

Well an Anti-Kook guy can always hope can't he?


Jimbo


Forever on guard for online Kooks and conspiracy theorists!!! Our Motto: <FONT COLOR="ff0000">If you can not identify the sucker in your game look in the mirror.</FONT> (Don't blame the Bots, the Curse. the Shuffle, or the Colluders)

...I'm an anti-kook.


Here's an article I found interesting. When I read it, I must admit I became a little concerned about you. You weren't dropped on your head as a youngster, were you?


Tom D

Hi Tom D.,


I tried to access the article but the computers wheels just kept spinning and I never got to read it. I did see it was at nature.com. Does this have something to do with apples falling and Sir Isaac Newton? Or dropping babies from 3rd story floors? At any rate please elaborate on the soft spot you have identified on the top of my head.


Jimbo

Jimbo,


I just tried the link and it came up after a long time. I copied it below.


Tom D


Brains Sniff Out Scam Artists


Evolution might have programmed us to compute fairness. 13 August 2002

KENDALL POWELL


The human brain contains dedicated circuits to detect cheaters, say researchers. The same team has found that people from different cultures are equally good at spotting unfair behaviour.


Humans evolved cheat detection as a separate mental component, says evolutionary psychologist John Tooby of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "Our brains have specialized programs like computer programs, specific for various applications," he says.


Tooby and his colleagues tested the ability of a patient called R.M. to detect cheats. R.M. has damage to brain areas involved in emotion and social behaviour. His intelligence is normal, but he has trouble working out what other people know, think or feel.


The researchers gave R.M. either a social rule ("If you borrow my motorcycle, you have to wash it") or a precautionary rule ("If you ride a motorcycle, you must wear a helmet"). The consequences of breaking the first type of rule are social, the second physical.


R.M. was as good as control subjects at spotting when a precautionary rule was broken. But for social rules, he was 30 per cent worse at spotting cheats.


"Cheater detection in the brain is a separate system from reasoning in other domains," comments Pascal Boyer, an anthropologist and psychologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri.


"There's probably room in the brain for a list of modes of social interaction," says neuroscientist Steven Pinker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. This list might include guessing others' social status or sexual desires.


Cultural consistency


Specialized, evolved cheat detection should be present in humans regardless of their culture. To test this, the team took their experiment to the Shiwiar people of the Ecuadorian Amazon.


These hunter-horticulturalists were isolated from the outside world until the late 1970s. But they can spot when someone breaks a deal as well as anybody, getting it right more than 80 per cent of the time.


"A stockbroker in New York and a hunter in an Amazonian village will probably have to activate the capacity [to detect cheats] in different ways," comments Boyer. "But the capacity is there, ready to be activated.


"All social primates, such as Rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees, recognize social exchange and cheaters, so the adaptation may be evolutionarily quite old.


References1. Stone, V., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J., Kroll, N. & Knight, R.T. Selective impairment of reasoning about social exchange in a patient with bilateral limbic system damage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Published online, doi:10.1073/pnas.122352699 (2002). 2. Sugiyama, L.S., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. Cross-cultural evidence of cognitive adaptations for social exchange among the Shiwiar of Ecuadorian Amazonia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Published online doi:10.1073/pnas.122352999 (2002).


© Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Tom,


Thanks for the article I found it quite interesting and find it strongly reinforces my beliefs. Though I may not be able to readily identify your deviant sexual behavior (if any) I would have a sixth sense if I were being cheated by the online poker sites and be able to identify such behavior (even if I were a member of the Shiwiar people of the Ecuadorian Amazon).


I do appreciate your providing this unbiased information which strongly supports my position.


jIMBO

I wonder if there is part of the brain that controls self-delusion that is activated when some basic skills are not up to population norms.


"Honey, something is not right, you know how well of a hunter I am, but this is the four day in a row, I no catch any game. I think there are some evil spirits about.


MS Sunshine

Jimbo,


Glad you liked the article. Yes, the brain is a wondrously handy tool, unless, of course, it's been damaged or is less evolved.


Tom D

Sunshine,


I remember reading that there is a part of the brain that controls self deception. I believe it's right next to the part that that controls how to win friends and influence people. Usually, when there's damage to one, there's damage to the other. It's really sad.


Tom D

Although I really enjoyed your humorous response to Ms Sunshine I am a bit disappointed in the irony expressed in your response to me. Please give me one more shot Tom. Don't I at least deserve your A game? /images/smile.gif Good bantering with you, I enjoy your posts quite a bit.


Jimbo

I enjoyed it. Good job.


Tom D

What organized criminal group do you work for?