For the human genetic line, sustenance was a survival requirement, so we evolved to be hungry. Reproduction was a survival requirement, so we evolved to be horny. Not falling off a cliff was a survival requirement, so we evolved to be scared of heights. Tribe well-being was a survival requirement, so we evolved to be tribal.

Unlike spiders and ants, whose independent life form never changes emergence floors, humans are a kind of hybrid creature that inhabits a range along Emergence Tower, not a single floor.

When my tortoise Winston is scared, he tucks his head and his limbs into his shell. When humans are scared, they form giants. The giant is the human tortoise shell. `Typically, the bigger the giant that threatens a group of people, the bigger a giant they’ll form in response.`

`In each case, human dickishness is running at full force—the thing that’s changing is the size of the giants that are being dicks to each other.`

The evolutionary sweet spot probably wouldn’t have been kindness or empathy or compassion or cooperation—it would have been `to have these traits on a toggle switch. To be micro-kind and macro-ruthless.`

So Moochie’s behavior is just a reflection of his particular motivations and the environment around him. If you want to change his behavior, you have to change one of the equation’s independent variables—Moochie’s nature or his environment. If we had a brain-machine interface, we might be able to change his nature—rewiring Moochie’s software so that dopamine hits are triggered by, say, the high arts instead of by gorging on food.