Do humans truly adapt? Do their instincts evolve as does their knowledge, as time advances?

NOTE: Over the past 4 years, I have been expanding my mind by examining human behavior. Not officially, and not with government funding, but recreationally, and on my own time. I have been studying the way people act toward others, and the way society acts, specifically, western society. My theories can also be applied to most other societies, such as the so-called "communist" societies, as I will show later on. Only, I would prefer that my theories be applied to western societies that include capitalism and free enterprise in their infrastructure.

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Reptiles: Their main objective in life is for to ensure their own survival. Their next objective is to procreate. Never will the two conflict with each other. A reptile will protect it's nest, only because it is their territory, not because it is protecting the eggs or offspring.

Mammals: Their main objective in life is to ensure their own survival. Their next objective is to procreate. The difference between reptiles and mammals is that mammals have the instinct to protect their offspring. What humans call "Maternal love" is just a euphemism for a unique mammalian instinct in which they will endanger themselves in order to protect their offspring.

Humans: Their main objective in life is to ensure their own survival. Their next objective is to procreate. The two objectives often come into conflict because humans constantly have to worry about social acceptance. Humans, think long and hard before resorting to cannibalism. On the other hand, our closest relatives, the chimpanzee, will not hesitate to eat another chimpanzee if food is scarce. Humans have carved this image of a civilized world in which certain aspects of survial have been deemed, "savage". Even though we may not notice at first, some of these "savage" aspects of survival play an important role in modern society.

Human children use these instincts the most. They rely on the most primitive instinct, survival of the fittest as the foundation to create a hierarchy. Of course, first impression is everything when it comes to children. Who wears the nicest clothes, who has the coolest toys, who has the biggest house, who has the coolest haircut, etc. From personal experience, I know that material possesions override personality when it comes to acceptance. You can be the funniest kid in school, but if you live in a shack, nobody is going to want to hang out with you. The other children will pick on you. Children do not know it, but they creating their own groups based on one's parent's financial success.

quote:

Capitalism An economic system based on a free market, open competition, profit motive and private ownership of the means of production.

SOURCE: Dictionary.com

Capitalism has many great characteristics. The best one may be, that there is an oppurtunity to become financially successful. The downfall of this characteristic is that oppurtunities are hard to come by, if many people are competing. This "open competition" brings out our most primitive instinct, Survival of the fittest. Humans are always competing for the best positions in a company. They apply, put on their best clothes, get a haircut, and put together their resume. They want to make sure that they are going to get the position, and not someone else. They do not care about anyone else. They want to be financially successful, and if they get the job, all the others that applied have lost the competition. While the human that scored this great job is celebrating, the others might be crying in bed because they have failed. They might not be able to pay their bills now.

This instinct, survival of the fittest, has been with us forever. In order to survive, humans take advantage of situations, even if it is illegal, or immoral, humans will do it to becmome successful. Organized crime has a field day in a capitalist society, and russia is a great example of what happens when crime organizations overrun a capitalist society. Even legitimate businessmen will cut corners, or steal money, if they have the opportunity to do so.

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Sorry, I had to cut this unbelievably short. I left out alot of things, I will add more to this subject tomorrow, or the next day. Please let it be known that I am anti-capitalist, so if I seem harsh toward it, you know why.

Feel free to comment and add your thoughts

___________________
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quote:

Originally posted by Marc Summers ....

1. what does this have to do with the topic?
2. it's just a load of observations, how about some conclusion? what is your point in writing this?
3. (at least some) humans can override their instincts.

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quote:

Originally posted by Psy-T 1. what does this have to do with the topic?

It has everything to do with the topic. You said that it's a bunch of observations, and you are correct. I observe and interpret, from what I have read in this topic, that is what philosophy is.

quote:

Originally posted by Psy-T 2. it's just a load of observations, how about some conclusion? what is your point in writing this?

My conclusion can be found in what I wrote, It is my belief, that negatively viewed animal instincts are embedded into our society, and viewed as positive (Ex: Survival of the fittest).

quote:

Originally posted by Psy-T 3. (at least some) humans can override their instincts.

I am going to say that is impossible, someone who can override their instincts is a freak of nature (Not viewed negatively), a mutant (Not viewed negatively).

From your reply, it seems that I did not write this well, I rushed through it, and left alot of things out. I will work on it tomorrow, I promise.

___________________
"You won a new refrigerator, great! Where you gonna put it?" - Tony Danza

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Summers It has everything to do with the topic.

i won't say it has nothing to do with philosophy, but it has nothing to do with the topic discussed through out this thread...

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Summers My conclusion can be found in what I wrote, It is my belief, that negatively viewed animal instincts are embedded into our society, and viewed as positive (Ex: Survival of the fittest).

when are they viewed negatively, and by whom?
is your ultimate aim with that post to prove that humans (or whichever group of humans views the instincts negatively) are hypocritical?

___________________
People who own my ass: Citric Acid, Boomer187, Tribu, Sand Leaper,
Jackson, venomX, jamie, Renegade, Konjin, Akridrot, Miss Bliss.
Psy-T - Down The Rabbit Hole (400minute long acid set)

Life does not exist unless you believe it to. As soon as you believe life is real, then death becomes unavoidable. If you do not believe in death then you are probably an alien that is frozen in tomb inside a meteor that flies endlessly through space. If you are this alien & happen to be reading this post right now, then I have some bad news for you: Your mother is very very angry at you & will spank you with the wooden spoon for not telling her that you were going on an endless voyage through the galaxy. At least tell her next time so she doesn't have to cook dinner to an empty seet for the next 6 billion years.

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quote:

Originally posted by Psy-T when are they viewed negatively, and by whom? is your ultimate aim with that post to prove that humans (or whichever group of humans views the instincts negatively) are hypocritical?

Not so much hypocritical.

I'm trying to prove that humans aren't as superior as they think they are.

___________________
"You won a new refrigerator, great! Where you gonna put it?" - Tony Danza

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Summers ....

while thats a good observation of human nature and instinct, i'm not sure of its true relevance to the compatibility of good and evil as it relates to God.

If you can structure it in a way that displays your thoughts on the subject we're all discussing and find a perspective and stick to it, then please do so.

quote:

Originally posted by Xenocreator_PG_ Life does not exist unless you believe it to. As soon as you believe life is real, then death becomes unavoidable. If you do not believe in death then you are probably an alien that is frozen in tomb inside a meteor that flies endlessly through space. If you are this alien & happen to be reading this post right now, then I have some bad news for you: Your mother is very very angry at you & will spank you with the wooden spoon for not telling her that you were going on an endless voyage through the galaxy. At least tell her next time so she doesn't have to cook dinner to an empty seet for the next 6 billion years.

... thank you for your contribution?

missed the thread since last night so lemme catch up.

quote:

Originally posted by Pjotr G how are you gonna know joy if you know of no sorrow?

nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Demoted Joy comes in a bottle, I know joy.

lol.

k caught up.

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quote:

Originally posted by washout missed the thread since last night so lemme catch up. nice. lol. k caught up.

good effort

quote:

Originally posted by Psy-T why in your opinion did god create humans/the world/the universe to begin with?

I will borrow from C.S. Lewis to address this. God created all life in the hopes that said life would choose to love him. He wanted to feel loved so he created beings to love him. His first creation was beings of spirit such as himself.... angels, however, angels lack free will, they have knowledge of God and therefore are compelled to love him. The love of the angels was unsatisfactory to god because it was not given but forced. To receive the love he wanted he created humans (presumably this would extend to all life be it here or elsewhere but since we really only care about man in this discussion I specify humans) to whom he gave free will and only limited revalations of himself. Why limited knowledge of god?.... because certain knowledge of an all powerful god would command love whereas limited knowledge requires a choice, to love a God you do not know for certain exists is a difficult thing but it is in our choice to do the difficult out of love for god that god gains his satisfaction.

While this is the best rationalization I have read for why God would create anything it begs the question.... if God created everything our of some want or need to be loved then would one not have to conclude that there is some measure of selfishness in God's nature?

quote:

Originally posted by Moral Hazard While this is the best rationalization I have read for why God would create anything it begs the question.... if God created everything our of some want or need to be loved then would one not have to conclude that there is some measure of selfishness in God's nature?

i've always personally thought so. from the time i was really young and first starting to question God's existence, I always thought that God must be very selfish if he would send someone to eternal suffering simply because that person didnt believe in/love Him. Regardless of what kind of life that person lived, I always felt it was rather selfish. If a person spends the majority of their life helping others, donating to charities, doing work for organizations whom travel the world and help the poor or the starving, etc but simply doesnt believe in God, they would be sent to hell. That always seemed rather weird to me.