Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

382 HOW THE MIND WORKSWhat is disgust for? Rozin points out that the human species faces "theomnivore's dilemma." Unlike, say, koalas, who mainly eat eucalyptusleaves and are vulnerable when those become scarce, omnivores choosefrom a vast menu of potential foods. The downside is that many arepoison. Many fish, amphibians, and invertebrates contain potent neurotoxins.Meats that are ordinarily harmless can house parasites like tapeworms,and when they spoil, meats can be downright deadly, because themicroorganisms that cause putrefaction release toxins to deter scavengersand thereby keep the meat for themselves. Even in industrializedcountries food contamination is a major danger. Until recently:anthraxand trichinosis were serious hazards, and today public health experts recommenddraconian sanitary measures so people won't contract salmonellapoisoning from their next chicken salad sandwich. In 1996 a worldcrisis was set off by the discovery that Mad Cow Disease, a pathologyfound in some British cattle that makes their brains spongy, might do thesame to people who eat the cattle.Rozin ventured that disgust is an adaptation that deterred our ancestorsfrom eating dangerous animal stuff. Feces, carrion, and soft, wet animalparts are home to harmful microorganisms and ought to be keptoutside the body. The dynamics of learning about food in childhood fitright in. Which animal parts are safe depends on the local species andtheir endemic diseases, so particular tastes cannot be innate. Childrenuse their older relatives the way kings used food tasters: if they ate somethingand lived, it is not poison. Thus very young children are receptiveto whatever their parents let them eat, and when they are old enough toforage on their own, they avoid everything else.But how can one explain the irrational effects of similarity—therevulsion for rubber vomit, chocolate dog turds, and sterilized roaches?The answer is that these items were crafted to evoke the same reaction inpeople that the objects themselves evoke. That is why novelty shops sellrubber vomit. The similarity effect merely shows that reassurance by anauthority or by one's own beliefs do not disconnect an emotionalresponse. It is no more irrational than other reactions to modern simulacra,such as being engrossed by a movie, aroused by pornography, orterrified on a roller coaster.What about our feeling that disgusting things contaminate every-