Re: if Evolutionary Psychology makes you cynical of people
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in the other thread called "evolution and love" people are talking about how lust is for sex, love is for raising children, altruism is not really altruism it's about getting something in return for it later. here is they key point on this subject that some smart writer wrote about (and hopefully, if you are you cycnical of people and their motivations becuase of the evolutionary psychology, this will fix you)...
people evolved to have 'altruism' because in general we'll get something in return. it is not perfect though, it doesn't work everytime. some of the time we'll give something and not get something back because we are not computers that strictly analyze everything. in other words, our emotions try and approximate a cold analyzing computer but that is NOT what they are, at base they are emotions. take emotions for what they are, at face value, if you feel love for someone just leave it at that, it is just love because you are a human and humans love.
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It sounds like this person is talking at the level of a person which is wrong. We are not evolved to love so that we will give and sometimes get something back. We are evolved to love because that increases the survival chances of our genes.
chez
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