Yes, the title is bait.
I'm reading Richard Wrangham's The Goodness Paradox?, about 3/4 of the way through. I like it and the argument he makes, having read the recent book on the experiment in Russia of rearing silver foxes selected for non-aggression, which seems to support a "domestication" theory. After 40 generations the foxes were much like dogs, both physically (floppy ears, changes in skull shape, etc) and in behavior.
So in the chapter I just finished Wrangham's discussing how humans might have developed a moral sense (as part of their self-domestication). His basic theory is: lynch mobs, triggered by observations of chimpanzees. The idea is, if and when an alpha male gets too alpha, the subordinate males discover by forming a coalition they can take him out. From that we can evolve to coalitions which enforce social norms, and innate behavior which makes us hyper conscious of norms and therefore very moral.
That's a quick and dirty summary; no doubt one Wrangham would shudder at.
It's an interesting subject, and he's a careful writer. I want to see if he explains why we still generate alpha males like our current president.
[I should note, Wrangham doesn't call them "lynch mobs", but his description would match a description of a generic lynch mob--a bunch of males converging to execute justice on someone who is perceived to have violated a norm. He has some descriptions from anthropology of societies/tribes where there are strong norms covering such actions.]
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