Patri Friedman discusses the Evolution of Morality — and why he does not believe in natural rights:
One of the main reasons I am a consequentalist (rather than believing in natural rights) is that I suspect that intuitive morality is an evolved module meant for my genes’ good, rather than a window onto absolute truth. I have very strong feelings about right and wrong. I also have very strong feelings about how much fun it is to eat a bowl of chips that’s in front of me. Given my skepticism about the correctness of the latter feeling, it seems hypocritical to not be equally skeptical about the former feeling.So the parts of my intuitive morality that disagree with others I treat as a personal preference about the type of society I would like to live in, rather than that which everyone ought to want to live in. Hence I think arguments about the negative consequences of those different moral codes are much more worthwhile than arguments about whose morality is right. (Although I often slip into the latter, sadly.)
Someone’s been reading the Dilbert Blog:
You are not a rational creature. You are a moist robot, designed by little gnomes living deep inside you to carry out their fiendish goal of survival and reproduction. Not to be happy. Not to be unbiased. Examine your instinctive behaviors with your conscious mind whenever possible, to make sure they are actually serving your goals, not just the gnomes’.