This is a wonderful piece and it's so great to hear from somebody so deeply knowledgeable in the field. I wonder if approval reward might be an emergent property. When you're operating under radical uncertainty with more variables than you can possibly model, defaulting to "what would my community approve of" is a computationally efficient heuristic. It's not some holy pro-social module evolution baked into us; it's a deeply rational response to chaos. Even if I tip when no one is watching at a restaurant I will never return to, psychologically I know I am reinforcing behavior that will serve me well in the future. Who's to say what will happen that... (read more)
This is a wonderful piece and it's so great to hear from somebody so deeply knowledgeable in the field. I wonder if approval reward might be an emergent property. When you're operating under radical uncertainty with more variables than you can possibly model, defaulting to "what would my community approve of" is a computationally efficient heuristic. It's not some holy pro-social module evolution baked into us; it's a deeply rational response to chaos. Even if I tip when no one is watching at a restaurant I will never return to, psychologically I know I am reinforcing behavior that will serve me well in the future. Who's to say what will happen that... (read more)