Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id LAA15525 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 13 Jan 2002 11:47:52 GMT Message-ID: <000c01c19c28$721099c0$79a6bed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020107234947.034feec0@pop.cogeco.ca> <5.1.0.14.0.20020109013823.02dc3840@pop.cogeco.ca> Subject: Re: CRASH CONTAGION Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 12:48:35 +0100 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca>
> People *often* die in heroic acts. And it make no difference if you or I
> think he was doing something stupid, what is important to understand his
> actions from an evolutionary psychology viewpoint is how he felt about it.
Hi Keith, sorry for the delay. Got a lot to do and still there is more
waiting,
anyway, what you wrote above and can agree with. That is exactly the
main point ! All the rest is due to speculation.
> >Obtaining attention and a wife were not the boys
> >motives to crash a plane in a building !
> I disagree. A substantial fraction of what people do is directed toward
> gaining status. Those actions led directly to reproductive success (most
> of the time and in a tribal environment).
<< Yes, of course, but such assumption can' t be applied here !
What did the boy exept !? To live and tell about it !?
To get a wife and tell his children and grandchildren about his heroic
exploits !?
To get any reproductive success out of killing himself !?
Status seems logical to me, he, maybe earned a footnote in history, but that
will be all.
> >Setting fire to a nearby wood would not have giving the same impact
> >than crashing a plane in a building !
> >Teens imitate teens, remerber ! Nurture by the kin- group is far more
> >important than the teaching of the eldery, parents, bin Laden or other-
> >wise !
>
> Maybe, but the note found on him was clear about bin Laden.
<< Yes, to give himself the credit of having an attitude, to give any
meaning
of importance, to make a ' statement ' ! But what is the real meaning of
such writings !? Kids do, and say the darnest things. I do understand that,
we the eldery, do not listen to what kids have to say, we don 't see the
cries
for help which kids throw at us, but on the other hand, and that is my view,
some cries are indeed very real, are legitimate, but don 't throw away the
child out of the kid !! Some kids do stupid things, but there is no reason
to look for deeper meanings. We think we have to, to understand the kids,
and that is maybe our mistake !!
Regards,
Kenneth
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