Human nature: universal, species-typical
There is, it is safe to say, such a thing as the typical human stomach and it is different from a non-human stomach. It is the assumption of this book that there is also, in the same way, a typical human nature.
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Genetic variability: individual difference
The tension between universal characteristics of the human race and particular features of individuals is what the genome is all about. Somehow the genome is responsible for both the things we share with other people and the things we experience uniquely in ourselves. We all experience stress; we all experience the elevated Cortisol that goes with it; we all suffer from the immune-suppressive effects thereof. We all have genes switched on and off by external events in this way. But each of us is unique, too.
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Between-group cultural difference
Variability from adaptiveness
- Evolution ≠ simply reduce variability
- Individual difference not merely material for natural selection / random noise
- Fluctuating Selection, what counts as adaptive is dynamic
| Commonalities | Differences | |
|---|---|---|
| Particle | Classical mechanics | Quantum indeterminacy |
| Behavior | Species-typical, human nature | Individual difference |
| Economy | Statistical trends | Individual choice |