Instincts are heritable, whereas reasons have to be taught; what is important is how you behave, not knowing why you do. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb remarks, ‘There is no such thing as a rational or irrational belief – there is only rational or irrational behaviour.’ And the best way for evolution to encourage or prevent a behaviour is to attach an emotion to it. Sometimes the emotion is not appropriate – for instance, there is no reason for Brits to be afraid of spiders, since there are no poisonous spiders in the UK – but it’s still there, just in case. And why take the risk? Other than in a
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