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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Strangled by Roots | Steven Pinker. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Strangled by Roots | Steven Pinker
by possibly noteworthy at 10:58 pm EDT, Jul 31, 2007

Long-time fans of Fukuyama's Trust (*) will appreciate this.

Outside a small family circle, the links of kinship are biologically trifling, vulnerable to manipulation, and inimical to modernity. For all that, the almost mystical bond that we feel with those whom we perceive as kin continues to be a potent force in human affairs.

It is no small irony that in an age in which technology allows us to indulge (*) these emotions as never before, our political culture systematically misunderstands them.

This is also a partial response to the observation by Decius that "People who have different identities tend to fight." This is not unrelated to Tom Friedman's McDonald's Theory:

"No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's."

(*) Acidus should definitely be posting here: [1,2,3,4,5]


 
 
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