℞ for Creeping Cynicism
Or are we undergoing a progressive awakening to our tribe’s ancient mission to transform the power of aggression into the bounty of communion
Or are we undergoing a progressive awakening to our tribe’s ancient mission to transform the power of aggression into the bounty of communion
Everyone is born with a different configuration of three mentalities, and mental health is a balance between all three.
It’s called Darwinism Human nature is determined by: 1) The survival of the fittest (natural selection); 2) Including group selection: There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each …
Forth in series: click for first, second, or third There is evidence that, in a period of sharply declining temperatures, a collapse in the ape population occurred at the time hominins split off from apes. My view is that in the context of birthrates falling toward extinction, hierarchical dominance competition became a dangerous waste of …
[Kindle version $5] The Sighting What was it like living in one of these early hominin groups? In my imagination, I picture becoming aware of a continuous chirping sound threading up from below while hiking on a promontory high above the East African savanna three million years ago. After lying down with my binoculars to …
I have been re-editing my book, and thought that this key juncture might hold together on its own. As mentioned, [Richard] Dawkins popularized the concept that natural selection can proceed at the level of genes. For example, some insects will sacrifice themselves for several of their genetic relatives. This is because it is actually the …
The social structure of humans was due to a decisive-and-then-stable shift in the level of selection: from the selection of individuals (for fitness) in apes to the selection associations between individuals (for fecundity & productivity) in humans.
Could not the key to a simple understanding this underlying democratic leadership in baboons lie inside the relationship between the leader and the led?
Primate cognitions focused on competitively reading each other’s minds are adaptations to an environment comprised entirely of social emotion.
While on vacation, I am reposting my most popular posts like this one on the evolutionary roots of schizophrenia.
When the principle vector of evolution shift from the individual to relationships between individuals, that included subgroups, groups, groups of groups all the way up to biological families.
There is very little argument that the reason that Homo sapiens has become the most dominant species on earth is our extraordinary ability to cooperate—I would say coordinate—in their behavior towards mutual goals. The issue addressed in this blog is how this came about. The demonstration by William Hamilton of “kin selection” in which the …
Poetic rendering of evolution by group selection.
While I am on vacation, I am reposting some of my more popular past posts, such as this one on the roots of schizophrenia.
I finally grasped the central idea of group selection after reading Thomas Seeley’s wonderful and eminently readable book Honeybee Democracy (2010). In it he illustrates that the fundamental principle of effective group-selected living is to maximize the coordination of the advantages of two or more heads and bodies over one. Leadership is a negative because …