Re: Intelligent life form

Noone Inparticular wrote:
> Richard Forrest wrote:
> > Noone Inparticular wrote:
> > > Ex_OWM wrote:
> > > <snips>
> > >
> > > > I struggle to think
> > > > of something any other species can do that man hasn't figured out a way of
> > > > doing.
> > >
> > > Living peacefully among ourselves.
> >
> > Most species do *not* live peacefully amongst themselves!
>
> Yes, "most".
>
> Ex_OWM wrote; "I struggle to think of something *any* other species
> can..." -emphasis added as an explanation for my comments
>
> >
> > In that respect man is better than most. Non-social species are likely
> > to attack and possibly kill other members of their own species who
> > stray onto their territory. In social species - lions for example - it
> > is common for males who take over ownership of females to kill any
> > offspring which may be around to give a better chance for their own
> > offspring. Chimps kill each other - one of the more horrifying findings
> > of Jane Goodall's research programme.
>
> Yes, yes. Many animals kill members of their own species. Many do not,
> however. We humans, however, seem particularly adept at it. Seem to
> like doing it, we do.
>

Oh?
How many people have you killed recently?

Jane Goodall studied a small population of chimps, and found that they
kill both members of other 'tribes' and on one occasion one of their
own. That is, statistically speaking, a very high incidence of murder.
In the UK, there are fewer than 1,000 murders each year in a population
of about 60 million. Although such crimes are widely and sensationally
reported, their incidence is very, very low. As a human, I'm much safer
walking through the streets of a town I have never visited, even one on
the other side of the world, that a chimp would be straying into the
territory of a neighbouring chimp tribe, let alone a lion straying into
the territory of another male. In most animals there are strong
behavioural systems to prevent them comming into contact with other
members of their own species except for reproduction, and in social
species it is very risky to stray into rival territory. Those cute
meerkats which everyone loves so much will kill members of their own
group if they have been separated for more than a few hours.

And yes, I know that humans also wage wars and commmit acts of
genocide. However, it's worth studying the ways in which normal human
behaviour needs to be manipulated and distorted for such acts to occur.
Military training is harsh and disciplined because it is only by
supressing the normal human reluctance to take life that soldiers can
be trained to kill. Even then, it is only a small minority of soldiers
who actually kill people in opposing armies; one of the characteristics
of modern military forces is that their soldiers are much younger than
they used to be, and are trained at an age at which their social
conscience is less well developed and therefore the normal constraints
on not killing not so strong. One of the more horrifying aspects of
some genocides is that many of the perpertrators were children.


> >
> > Bearing in mind that we are very numerous and very crowded, humanity
> > doesn't do to badly.
>
> When we weren't so crowded, how'd we do?
>

It's because we are so social that we can get so crowded at all!
One of the most extraordinary aspects of human behaviour is the
practice of offering hospitality to strangers, which is particularly
strong in societies living in areas with a very low population density.


> >
> > RF

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Intelligent life form
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  • Re: Intelligent life form
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