It boils down to our hardwired genes and their phenotypes (level of expressions), which are dependent on environmental conditions and cues. We, humans are rather living in an incubator than in the real world. Everybody is well fed and got equal rights. Our life styles are little anomalous than other animals but we are also within the same invisible realm of evolutionary force that has ruled the life for many millions of years. Evolution is rather a slow on going process, which is totally blind and unforgiving. Our society might be great, law abiding and God fearing, but a small bug can wipe out our human species from the face of the earth at any time.
As you say, there is societal pressure for humans to behave but there are times when all these rules and niceties are thrown aside and you witness a horrible crime like gang rape or many other horrible crimes. The point is nothing is set in the stone. There are societal traits and there are plenty of violators of those traits. Some of these traits are basically arbitrary and imposed on us for greater good of the society. They should not be considered as evolutionary traits for any advantage. Nada! The force of evolution does not give a damn hoot about these traits/niceties.
Punishment is probably the latest addition to our human society. We know that not all are equally punished for equal crimes. If you are more muscular than others, who would dare to punish you? So, rules are not exactly followed in our human societies. We can call ourselves relatively civilized or uncivilized as we please. Ironically, our hardwired genes have not changed that much from the time of dog eating dog days of the past.
There is no place for a good-natured tiger in the jungle. It would become some other animals' food if it does not use it's hunting power and sharp teeth. It too got some societal traits but its primitive instincts that make or break for its long-term evolutionary survival.
With the best evolutionary regards,
-SD
From: Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 9:02 AM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Learning from animals
Sent from my iPhone
As you say, there is societal pressure for humans to behave but there are times when all these rules and niceties are thrown aside and you witness a horrible crime like gang rape or many other horrible crimes. The point is nothing is set in the stone. There are societal traits and there are plenty of violators of those traits. Some of these traits are basically arbitrary and imposed on us for greater good of the society. They should not be considered as evolutionary traits for any advantage. Nada! The force of evolution does not give a damn hoot about these traits/niceties.
Punishment is probably the latest addition to our human society. We know that not all are equally punished for equal crimes. If you are more muscular than others, who would dare to punish you? So, rules are not exactly followed in our human societies. We can call ourselves relatively civilized or uncivilized as we please. Ironically, our hardwired genes have not changed that much from the time of dog eating dog days of the past.
There is no place for a good-natured tiger in the jungle. It would become some other animals' food if it does not use it's hunting power and sharp teeth. It too got some societal traits but its primitive instincts that make or break for its long-term evolutionary survival.
With the best evolutionary regards,
-SD
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." GBS
From: Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 9:02 AM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Learning from animals
Pretty interesting. Is the evolution of these animal traits not shaped or at least affected by social rules or is this evolution independent of societal influences? I guess society teaches us to harness our primitive instincts and that makes a human a better animal or the so called rational animal.
Manik Bandyopadhyay has written stories depicting the bestiality of humans. "Sarisrip" (reptiles) is one of them. All the characters in the story behave like low level animals and their behavior seems to be so natural. Here lies the power of the writer. "Pragoitihasik" is another one which is pretty well known.
Besides lust, greed, and rewards, there are other human motivators also. Broadly speaking punishment is another one. Modern motivation theories are pretty illuminating.
Sent from my iPhone
We too belong to the animal kingdom. There are plenty of animal traits that are already embedded in our brain that follow the rules of evolution rather than social rules and its constrains. No matter how much a society pushes us for a "correct" behavior, we have not evolved qualitatively any better animal than what we were five thousands years ago or further deeper in the past. Lust, greed and rewards, what drive us to work and perform. If these primitive drives are gone from our behavior, we will cease to exist.
-SD"All great truths begin as blasphemies." GBS
From: Sudhir-Architect <ar_sudhirkumar@yahoo.com>
To:
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 6:20 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Learning from animals
Learning from animals
Tirukkural stands out for its simplicity in conveying valuable messages. The examples Tiruvalluvar gives are ones we can easily comprehend and can relate to. He points to animal behaviour and characteristics to emphasise certain points, said R. Narayanan in a discourse on how Tiruvalluvar uses examples from the animal kingdom to buttress his arguments.Gambling addiction
Gambling is like an intoxicant. One who gambles gets addicted to the habit, because he is pleased with the occasional wins. He forgets the many losses, but the wins are what he remembers. He should keep in mind the fact that he might win some money in a game of gambling, but what he loses is far greater.
The rare win draws him just as the worm that is hooked to the end of a fishing rod draws the unwary fish, says Tirukkural. The fish bites the bait and is pulled up and loses its life. A desire to feast on a juicy worm spells disaster for the fish. In the same way, a pleasure like gambling entices a man and sends him hurtling to his doom.Regarding love, Tirukkural says that just as the Sun scorches a creature that has no bones, so does Dharma destroy the one who has a heart bereft of love. In order to be successful, every action must be performed at the right time.One should know when to do something and when not to. A crow can win in a fight against an owl during daytime. But the owl, being a nocturnal bird, can see well than the crow at night.So it would be foolish of a crow to take on an owl during night. We must know our opponent's weaknesses and strengths. A crocodile kills easily in water, but it is not so strong on land. So we should know on what kind of turf a person can be challenged without harm to us.When a crow finds something to eat, it calls out to other crows and shares its food with them. This is something we should learn from the crow- the act of sharing what we have with others. The moment it senses trouble, the tortoise draws its four limbs and its head into its shell, and is thus saved. If we learn to control our five senses, then we too will be saved, says Tirukkural.http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/religion/article3907880.ece#.UFnE4qGPlb0.email
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