Must be going around.

I am guessing it is the summer affecting people's tempers, but it would seem a common question from various people has been "What did I say and why are people so hating?" Someone pointed me to a blog on the Christian Science Monitor that reminded me about the major reasons people start shouting at each other when someone starts trying to change things:

1. The Illusionary Superiority Effect. This is where individuals in a group will come up with all the reasons that their tribe is superior than some other one
2. Loss Aversion.The brain has all kinds of circuits to enforce "A bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush". The idea of losing what one has even for something that might be better is hard.
3. Staus Quo Bias The 90% of the brain that is the subconscious is happier when things are stable and not changing.
4. A long list of other circuits in the brain

Now I can see how all of these have strong evolutionary saving abilities in big brained creatures. By throwing ape-cakes and screaming at blighters who are suggesting something that might mean less food and mates, you are probably going to survive longer than the guy who decides that hunting mammoths would be better than living off the berries and bunnies you have had before. What gets me though, is how we ever got to even agriculture, pottery or the wheel. I can only guess that there are other biases which show that young ones who take wild chances and survive are more likely going to attract mates and fans who follow them thus ensuring that some amount of chance taking is done. [I guess that comes under the Red Mustang With No Governor Effect.]

In any case that is far from my original point which is that if you are starting to feel like your blood pressure is going up while reading emails about KDE update mechanisms .. try to figure out what parts of the brain are getting fired off and are they really helpful.