[Link] We aren't the world: Humans differ more than previously believed

post by Baughn · 2013-02-26T13:07:42.902Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 1 comments

I found this article last night, which I'd like to hear your thoughts on.

It explains that many behaviours which psychologists have believed are human universals turn out to be specific to western culture. As the article points out, that's likely due to having easy access to western undergraduates, and assuming everyone works the same way.

It's not the first time I've read something like this; in the context of an article on military training, some years ago, I read how the culture of a certain area of the world made it basically impossible to build a military to western standards of effectiveness. Unfortunately I don't have a link, so treat that as an anecdote.

Some topics for discussion, off the top of my head:

 

• The article suggests that the same cultural bias that makes westerners unusual also causes us to not notice, but that's right after committing a multi-decade blooper. I'm unsure how much weight to give their negativity; western culture has been stunningly effective otherwise.
• Just how different are humans, anyway? One of the assumptions of CEV is that you can reasonably predict how a people would act if they "grow up together", which presumably requires growing up in the same culture. If culture provides this much of our basic brainware, such a scenario might be completely intractable; at worst, CEV for different cultures could produce the equivalent of baby-eaters. I'm increasingly worried that Eliezer is trying to do something that's not just impossible but also undesirable.
• How much of a competitive bonus does western culture provide? Is multiculturalism safe, either competitively or societally?

I don't expect these to be answerable right away, or based on this article. It's just something I'm going to keep in mind.

 

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