FearChain

Human-Condition · Mental-Processes

When the universe guru became one of us

Michio Kaku, in a Diary of a CEO interview, retells his sergeant’s Vietnam story: a boy offered candy, then threw a hand grenade; half the sergeant’s body was hit by shrapnel.
Kaku asks why a boy would do that and answers: because he believed the story he was given, enough to turn candy into a trap. His lesson: believe in the goodness of men and that men can do evil; fight for what you think is right.
He recalls singing “I want to kill a Charlie Kong” at 4 a.m. every morning, then asking himself whether he was on the right side or the wrong side of the war.

Cognitive-Memetics · Reptilocracy

Human-Condition · Social-Behaviour

A chimp community can live peacefully for decades, and out of nowhere split into factions and kill former allies.
The scary part is what triggers it: network breakdown, the loss of mediators, status rivalry, and territorial pressure.
Ants are the extreme case. Organized violence can emerge from simple social rules when resources, territory, and group structure line up.