[MD] Is morality Hard Wired?

[david buchanan]

Krimel said:
History, by definition means during the period after people started writing 
things down. That would be about 12,000 years ago, about the time that 
agriculture developed and group population sizes began to exceed what we are 
biologically equipped to deal with.

dmb says:
Actually, Herodotus is considered the father of history. (5th century B.C.) 
He was the first one to systematically record events and the first to be 
concerned with historical accuracy. We can't take this too literally as I'm 
sure he didn't just invent history out of nothing and others must have come 
before, but the basic idea is that myths and legends and self-serving tales 
of glory became distinquishable from an impartial record of event. In that 
sense, the prehistoric era ended only 2 centuries ago.

And by the way, its true that 12,000 years means very little in terms of our 
biological evolution, but in terms of cultural evolution the changes can 
hardly be overestimated. 12,000 years ago what we were basically highly 
advanced cave men. The bronze age was still in the future and we've since 
entered the space age or the information age or whatever. And that is just a 
technological indication of the evolution that occured. The cultural changes 
are just as stark. Think about how much religion has changed. Or fashion. 
Today people would laugh out loud if you dressed your mummy in linen.

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