in response to dana's quotes(or simply because I thought of it.)

[poetic_whim]

I would argue, (of course I would I love to argue) that the idea of walls and bounderies and restrictions being a new thing, a thing of our culture, delveloped over the years, is bullshit. The stupid power trips, nonsensical rules, lies and bounderies, those are that basic animal nature shining through, because what could be more natural then

Comments

[raegan]

Not at all. Segregating and isolating oneself is hardly the most natural thing (in most scenarios). Very few animals actually travel alone and those that travel in packs dont do it because of a "selfish survival instinct," they do it because it works for them. A pack of lions raises a cub. They are often grooming each other, which is a way of showing affection, and they certainly do not have to groom each other to survive. Many creatures who do not travel in packs, lone wolves for example, are only travelling outside of a pack because the pack refused them, not the other way around.
"Culture" itself is not a dog-eat-dog mentality. Aspects of culture, or certain cultures, are. Capitalism, for example, is utterly dog-eat-dog, while theoretical communism is far from it. Society has not unified as a whole because there are still many things that hold us apart. The Olympics, for example, as fun as they are, are very good at developing nationalistic pride and seperating this country from that.
The world will never be ready for the rules to be taken away. Many people simply cannot comprehend the world without rules to define it, and that is not something evolution is going to take away. In fact, as society progresses, the more reliant upon rules we become. We search for rules, we search for answers to explain things we do not understand. The world has not grown away from structure, it has grown into it.

Again, just finding a way to oppose you at every turn.

[poetic_whim]

awesome, I love it.
now: when I say selfish survival instinct, and you say 'it works for them' that is essentially the same thing. There is safety in numbers. All are hoping they can run just a little bit faster then another one so as not to get killed, or want a share in the meat they could not neccisarily have gotten for themselves. It is not (or rarely) out of some wish to be beneficial to others. "a pack of lions raise a cub" if you read back, you'll see I did make some allowance for maternal instinct, the instinct to procreate and have the species survive. many animals groom each other as a way of establishing social order. in monkeys for instance, the youngest or weakest groom the next monkey up in rank, wich then grooms the next money up, and so on and so forth, re-enforcing the hierarchy, the rules. I will continue this in a moment.

[raegan]

I don't think they are capable of that kind of want. While they are intelligent, they aren't at that kind of level, and in fact, many doubt their brains are advanced enough to feel pain. They arent hoping or thinking, they're just running.

[poetic_whim]

thats why it's called instinct.