Fear and Loathing

reply to post by dragonsmusic


Simian snobbery !

--------------------------

The route to our current position at the top of the food chain was a seriously arduous one , with no guarantee of success in the very early days .

Its not that long ago that people literally lived with their live-stock , i believe even today in some parts of Papa New Guinea a prized piglet would be nursed by woman . Any distance we put between our live stock and ourselves is regarded as progress.(though there is now a movement back to nature . if you can afford it )


Our distant past was a time of food shortages , diseases , uncertainty and violence in no small share i`d imagine. We have assembled quite an array of diseases contracted from our close proximity to our domesticated animals. A product of our largely agrarian societies of the past with the little reminders such as influenza, chicken pox and many many others.

Pagan beliefs which accentuated the divine in Nature , eventually gave way to those elevating man or at least some architypical "ideal of man" . Nature became our dominion in the eyes of many religions , provided for our use and needs to take at will.


Why are we , as a human race , so bothered by our similarity to animals

Because we still have all the `old wiring` in place , all those animalistic (sp?) impulses bubbling up from the sub cortex , where our neocortex & higher brain functions can consciously act upon them, or not as the case might be.


I know i am an animal , and all that it entails........ and that is what makes me human .

I am also a little tipsy , so please forgive the disjointed jumble of thoughts assembled above.



[edit on 22-12-2009 by UmbraSumus]

Originally posted by nine-eyed-eel
Yeah, and just from everyday usage - people might say "That chicken is as dumb as a rock," whereas, if you said "That rock is as dumb as a chicken,"...it kinda feels like the rock just got a promotion.

What meaning does it mean to compare anything to the intelligence of a rock? Irrelevant. The rock won't be insulted. The rock doesn't care. The rock is blissful. Who's the fool?

Originally posted by UmbraSumus
reply to post by dragonsmusic

 

Simian snobbery !

--------------------------

The route to our current position at the top of the food chain was a seriously arduous one , with no guarantee of success in the very early days .

Its not that long ago that people literally lived with their live-stock , i believe even today in some parts of Papa New Guinea a prized piglet would be nursed by woman . Any distance we put between our live stock and ourselves is regarded as progress.(though there is now a movement back to nature . if you can afford it )


Our distant past was a time of food shortages , diseases , uncertainty and violence in no small share i`d imagine. We have assembled quite an array of diseases contracted from our close proximity to our domesticated animals. A product of our largely agrarian societies of the past with the little reminders such as influenza, chicken pox and many many others.

Pagan beliefs which accentuated the divine in Nature , eventually gave way to those elevating man or at least some architypical "ideal of man" . Nature became our dominion in the eyes of many religions , provided for our use and needs to take at will.


Why are we , as a human race , so bothered by our similarity to animals

Because we still have all the `old wiring` in place , all those animalistic (sp?) impulses bubbling up from the sub cortex , where our neocortex & higher brain functions can consciously act upon them, or not as the case might be.


I know i am an animal , and all that it entails........ and that is what makes me human .

I am also a little tipsy , so please forgive the disjointed jumble of thoughts assembled above.

[edit on 22-12-2009 by UmbraSumus]

Umbra, that was wonderful to read. No worries about the "being a bit typsy" part

reply to post by dragonsmusic


Thank you Dragonsmusic !

Another curiosity of sorts is our bias towards certain forms of life .

We do have a soft spot for other mammals over ,for example: reptiles .

Especially young mammals , we have a genetic predisposition to go all soft and squishy for those oversized bambi/puppy eyes. They have kept the same evolutionary tricks, we too have developed to foster care and attention in the formation of attachments with vulnerable young.

Animal rights and a general sense of greater respect for other forms of sentient life must surely be attributed to advances in scientific understanding .
Do you think human abhorrence to our kinship with other animals is stronger or weaker today , than say ...... 100 years ago ?
I think it is a less disquieting thought today for Joe Public , because we are better informed, thanks to the likes of David Attenbourgh and others . Its easy to dispise those shifting wild shapes on the tree line, but an intricate look at the complexity of the plant and animal kingdom .... breeds a respect , of sorts.

But alas , its all to frequent to see the i ain`t the product of no monkey love ! comment here on ATS .

Much like the vestigial organs which we have retained from previous evolutions of our bodies .... i think we have retained other subtler relics ..... which act upon us .... modern humans .

I`m going to stop now , because i am veering wayyyy off topic .

reply to post by UmbraSumus


ALMOST ALL 'vestigial' organs have found true places in our anatomy because of better methods of science. ie, the tonsils, the appendix etc...........
Evolutionists had a 'cow' when we found out these are still much needed organs............!

' What's lower than an animal ? ' someone asked


Humans. Humans are. Humans are way lower than animals


and the proof is all around

reply to post by Dock9


Really?
So, when I took in that stray cat or dog, I was really a backwards human?

Originally posted by Clearskies
reply to post by UmbraSumus

 

ALMOST ALL 'vestigial' organs have found true places in our anatomy because of better methods of science. ie, the tonsils, the appendix etc...........
Evolutionists had a 'cow' when we found out these are still much needed organs............!

Yeah i agree , science receives an update , thats how it works .
I don`t doubt some scientists were pissed that their theories were proven incorrect ...... by other scientists.


" still much needed "

........ well , we can live without them .

Apparently all thats necessary for an organ/structure to be labelled "vestigial" ......

is for there to be homologies in other species where the use or function is clear, but that same use or function is not the case for the species in question. The use may be odd or it may simply not be identified yet.

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