On the "The Nurture of Nature"

Peter Frost has an interesting post, "The Nurture of Nature", where he writes about gene-culture coevolution, particularly over the last 1,000 years. This is an active topic and Frost is responding to some recent criticisms. He's convincing.

I added this comment.

"Rather than talking in general terms about gene-culture coevolution, we should think about the optimal psychological traits for specific modes of production.

The feudal mode of production would seem to select for traits such as: loyalty, respect for authority and sanctity - these are conservative dimensions in Haidt's phenomenological Moral Foundations Theory.

Capitalism's ideal psychological profile seems to be atomised prosociality, reflecting the transactional character of production relations. Thus agreeableness and fairness, those classic liberal virtues.

Conscientiousness and docility in the lower classes seems a transhistorical universal.

As regards post-capitalist socialism, the level of species-wide altruism and general dovishness seemingly required seems beyond the limits of current population variation - and unstable to boot. But perhaps something will be engineered .. ."