Very interesting article, thanks! I've always been amazed at the way some humans use other animals' behavior to try to explain or justify human behavior. Makes no sense most of the time, is often very unscientific, but on the other hand, it's uniquely human to do this, that's for sure. Animals (i.e. non-human animals) don't seem to give a hoot, they just live their lives (or try to) come what may! Humans need to figure out the best way to be human, and so far, after many millenia, aren't doing a very good job of it (in my opinion anyway). Best wishes, Colin, and Fr. Pete!
FR Prete is a wise and beautiful thinker, thanks for sharing this with your readers Colin! I LOVED this essay when I first read it on Frederick's site, and it was a pleasure to read through it again. We delude ourselves when we think we aren't subject to the same mistakes with our projections onto animals that people in the past have made.
Also, my last name means "bumblebee" in German so I'm always into anything to do with bees! :)
I'm much more ignoramus than entomologist but I've had my eye on this chimp called Homo for a few decades now and so can maybe contribute here.
The chimp called Homo conquered the Earth mostly by becoming Homo Faber, the tool creator and tool wielder, with the most useful tools ranging from this thing called language to things like guns and jets and atom bombs. But the ultimate tool, most handy and powerful of all, is using other Homos for your personal benefit, whether it be as your valet or bodyguard or ideological disciple.
And as these tools are connected to and controlled by our chimp brains (social down to its synapses and designed for survival and flourishing), they will always be wielded to meet our personal, social and psychological needs. Thus anything processed, absorbed or created by Homo brains simply becomes another tool to get your way and get your needs met, which from the cavemen to the They/Them has usually meant climbing the hierarchy of your tribe (or at least remaining a member in good standing) and turning any input into a self-serving, self-glorifying output.
Thus it has always been and thus it shall always be, at least until Homo 2.0 is reprogrammed by a wise, benevolent and omniscient algorithm (coming soon!)....
This links superbly to my favorite Jordan Peterson and “I know nothing about biology but I talk like I do”. His most famous laugh out loud silliness is stating that serotonin (a neurotransmitter) regulates aggressive behavior in Lobsters (arthropods...), which in turn creates emergent behavior of “hierarchy”.
Humans also use serotonin as a neurotransmitter (all animals do) which influences mood. Peterson leaps to the conclusion that there is a deep ancient connection between animals and humans needing and living on hierarchies based on serotonin. Something like that. Bizarre connection.
The hierarchy in a beehive is not maintained by serotonin levels (but digestion is...) but by... sex. So should we operate under the assumption that we are more like lobsters or bees.
Very much agree that we humans have an unquenchable tendency to anthropomorphize - and that this often ruins political debates.
We crave and search for something in nature that can be used as an argument for our world view and all its content - another example is quantum physics, which gives the imagination good opportunities, given how little we understand.
brilliant essay. thank you. what are we like? lobsters, chimps or bees? and what about wolves, whales or even flowers? jeepers. talk about options. no wonder we are so confused.
Very interesting article, thanks! I've always been amazed at the way some humans use other animals' behavior to try to explain or justify human behavior. Makes no sense most of the time, is often very unscientific, but on the other hand, it's uniquely human to do this, that's for sure. Animals (i.e. non-human animals) don't seem to give a hoot, they just live their lives (or try to) come what may! Humans need to figure out the best way to be human, and so far, after many millenia, aren't doing a very good job of it (in my opinion anyway). Best wishes, Colin, and Fr. Pete!
Frederick R Pete is a treasure.
FR Prete is a wise and beautiful thinker, thanks for sharing this with your readers Colin! I LOVED this essay when I first read it on Frederick's site, and it was a pleasure to read through it again. We delude ourselves when we think we aren't subject to the same mistakes with our projections onto animals that people in the past have made.
Also, my last name means "bumblebee" in German so I'm always into anything to do with bees! :)
This is a fantastic history essay.
Wonderful essay -- kudos!
I'm much more ignoramus than entomologist but I've had my eye on this chimp called Homo for a few decades now and so can maybe contribute here.
The chimp called Homo conquered the Earth mostly by becoming Homo Faber, the tool creator and tool wielder, with the most useful tools ranging from this thing called language to things like guns and jets and atom bombs. But the ultimate tool, most handy and powerful of all, is using other Homos for your personal benefit, whether it be as your valet or bodyguard or ideological disciple.
And as these tools are connected to and controlled by our chimp brains (social down to its synapses and designed for survival and flourishing), they will always be wielded to meet our personal, social and psychological needs. Thus anything processed, absorbed or created by Homo brains simply becomes another tool to get your way and get your needs met, which from the cavemen to the They/Them has usually meant climbing the hierarchy of your tribe (or at least remaining a member in good standing) and turning any input into a self-serving, self-glorifying output.
Thus it has always been and thus it shall always be, at least until Homo 2.0 is reprogrammed by a wise, benevolent and omniscient algorithm (coming soon!)....
This links superbly to my favorite Jordan Peterson and “I know nothing about biology but I talk like I do”. His most famous laugh out loud silliness is stating that serotonin (a neurotransmitter) regulates aggressive behavior in Lobsters (arthropods...), which in turn creates emergent behavior of “hierarchy”.
Humans also use serotonin as a neurotransmitter (all animals do) which influences mood. Peterson leaps to the conclusion that there is a deep ancient connection between animals and humans needing and living on hierarchies based on serotonin. Something like that. Bizarre connection.
The hierarchy in a beehive is not maintained by serotonin levels (but digestion is...) but by... sex. So should we operate under the assumption that we are more like lobsters or bees.
Inquiring minds want to know.
Nice article.
Very much agree that we humans have an unquenchable tendency to anthropomorphize - and that this often ruins political debates.
We crave and search for something in nature that can be used as an argument for our world view and all its content - another example is quantum physics, which gives the imagination good opportunities, given how little we understand.
brilliant essay. thank you. what are we like? lobsters, chimps or bees? and what about wolves, whales or even flowers? jeepers. talk about options. no wonder we are so confused.
Great article.
Although, FR Prete makes the same mistake & erases men's sex, when men aren't acting in honourable ways.
"You learn a lot about PEOPLE by how they talk about animals"
& "HUMAN behavior"
FR disguises the sex of the man with hurt fee-fees over bumble bees
Have we become more intellectually sophisticated over the last three centuries?
No!
His article with examples of exclusively men sacrificing science, truth & critical thinking,
needing to pretend females are male, in order to continue to adhere to their illusion that males are the superior sex.
We still de-sex men so much, it's subconscious
- Violence against women
- She got R*ped
- "battered wife"