CorkScrew thinks that this is a classic example of overcommitment. Treating morality from a purely evolutionary perspective, we can see that there is an advantage to behaving predictably well - people will come to trust you and will, for example, allow you to run up a tab whilst maintaining confidence that you will repay. With a bit of thought, it can be seen that a near-optimum pattern of behaviour is acheived by behaving completely morally up to the point where your life is at stake - thet way you maintain most of the benefits of morality without the ultimate cost.
Gets in before the Game Theoreticians wake up Unless everybody is a moral person and assumes everybody else is moral also, in which case the immoral bastard makes off with the loot. Unless everybody is immoral, in which case morality is preferable in small groups due to the advantages of trust. Eventually a balence is reached and people are partially happy. Evolution is satisfied with people being different and unhappy. --Edith
Unfortunately, once a particular pattern of behaviour has been ingrained into you, it is quite hard to make this quite sensible exception. This explains suicidal heroism - the individual was simply too used to behaving 'morally' to change their behaviour on short notice. In the case of suicide bombers, the individual is convinced that blowing up lots of people is the correct (in religious terms) behaviour pattern and, having had obedience to religious authority burned into their psyche, will be perfectly willing to comply. This theory unfortunately doesn't supply any obvious solution to the problem short of killing all violent imams :(
You could try persuading people the violent imams are wrong? Generally shooting influential people who don't agree with you tends not to persuade people to stop blowing you up in the long run --Edith
I would argue that to a certain extent human males are programmed to sacrefice themselves for the tribe. We are supposed to be the warriors (and hunters and loving fathers etc.) after all. Generally sucide bombers are a case of misguided Altruism--King DJ
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