CopyRight @ 1996
These are beliefs, not how people think
Individual beliefs......
Integrate in behavior....
a behavior is an action. Beliefs are why we act.
Just as human biological characteristics and human
institutions were listed, this chapter is to describe relevant
characteristics of human beliefs and behaviors.
All human belief is balanced. Belief and knowledge are functionally
the same...
!!!This is a discussion of beliefs.. of and for INDIVIDUALS. They are
usually different than the beliefs for groups.
****Characteristics of thought and how people think
...it all started with just a question..
************************************************************************
Learning
beliefs, belief sets and Belief systems!
Genetic Sources
Sun and Moon
Masculine
Feminine
These are beliefs ****
archetypes
Heavenly afterlife vs earthly reincarnation
monodeistic god vs spiritualistic faith
******** good vs evil
earthly actions directed towards earthly responsibilities vs
direction towards after earth existence
Sanitation
Vices
Vocation and Avocation
family laws
social laws
group view - feudal, paranoia, conformity, macho, puritan
************************************************************************
this is part of morality
The trouble is, beliefs related to morality may be very subtle and still may be
very consequential. This is partly because we are inhibited from
closely examining the beliefs we were taught as children by our
parents. Humans are designed such that, like language, many beliefs
seem best learned while young. Physical and psychological
development proceeds through very characteristic and critical
stages. Much of belief and value is developed very early. It must
start developing early, or first, because it is the context upon
which a persons knowledge and experiences develop. In any human
ecology, like the tribal or stratified society, it would be quite
necessary for children to efficiently learn from their parents
and teachers. Study of it shows that the learning is not only
efficient, it is very tenacious. It does not often get questioned
or subjectively examined and much more rarely does an individual
actually change much of their beliefs and values. Remember, there
are rarely any reasons for the beliefs of the children to differ
from the parents. It is only when there are changes in the
society, in one way or another, that there is any real reason for
changing belief.
??? end of intro to bel ***********************
*************
There are many different beliefs and values, but the ones
most worth studying are those that have stood the test of time
for the people that used them. In the equation that is a persons
life, the meaning and consequence of any belief may be obvious or
hidden, but almost all fall within recognizable patterns, that
can be related to survival. The body has no part that exists for
any purpose besides survival. Something may seem far removed from
survival, but that is why it is there. It may be vestigial like
the appendix, but it is unlikely and if it has no current
function it is important to know the source and meaning of the
behavior. Like an appendix, vestigial behaviors may become
problems, especially as we are trying to adapt to major changes.
Luckily, often the cure for inappropriate behavior is simply a
good understanding of the source and consequence of the behavior,
belief or value. Bad habits do not have to be inherited. In any
case, behaviors, beliefs and values are described here in the
context of how they effect survival.
What belief systems do we have and what do they mean? How do
you describe the meaning of a message from a person in the media,
history or perhaps from a friend. How do we describe the message
of John Wayne. It was a large clear message, but what was its
consequence?
********************** BEGIN 13
History of conciousness/beliefs
The Christian Concept of Love and Its Historic Consequence
Cooperation is the most important aspect of human survival
strategies. This can be a subtle issue, but its importance cannot
be overstated. Christianity was a belief that arose largely in
responce to the horrors of iron age warfare. It had important
concepts from the Zoroastans, including that all people are equel
in the eyes of God and that people should treat each other well.
The Christians taught that people should love one another. This
belief enhanced potentials for cooperation enormously. It
promoted community and set the stage for the industrial
revolution.
Human Value and belief about power
In some ways it is a bad idea to put a value on a human
life, other times it is instructive and even necessary. Simple
evaluations might consider the cost of pregnancy, child raising
and education. Another evaluation might look at what any
individual might produce ( by some standard ) in their lifetime.
It could be the human price of war. In any case, it is an issue
of importance and it leads to another critical item relating to
recent existence and the present changes we are experiencing.
########
Ancient cities with elaborate stone structures can bring to
mind the potential creativity of an individual human with only
muscle power, drive, some organization and some technique. It
seems easy to comprehend, to some degree, the human cost of the
construction of the pyramids of Egypt or the walls of Babalon.
###########
Before the advent of agriculture, wealth was very limited.
It was mostly what a person could catch or find. Aside from
territory, there was very little that had value over time. That
might include tools, furs or ornaments, but there value was
extremely limited, especially when compared to something of real
value such as territory or technique. With farming, this changed.
Resources were concentrated in one place and often there were
surpluses. This allowed for the support of specialists that
devoted their time to occupations other than direct food
acquisition. There were engineers and astronomers to plan the
farming and there were millers, bakers, merchants and scribes to
process and distribute the food. There were also priests, as
before, to guide the people. Eventually, it also led to the niche
of the human predator, the warrior.
Since that time, humans were ruled by the warriors. They
highly developed the concept of ownership, including the
ownership and value of humans. This was the beginning of power
and in many ways it was based on control of resources including
humans.
Politics is based on power and world economics have been
controlled by those in power, power based on violence. With the
reduction of the effectiveness of aggressiveness as a strategy,
the basis of the resource strategy, economics, will change.
Presumably the change will be towards creativity, as was before
the rise of power. In this time, wealth and economics have grown
into an institution independent of power. Warriors can be hired.
Wealth can be transmitted to the next generation much more
effectively than can just power, but the basic system dictating
the organization of each is the same.
Zen and work ethic
Zen is such an esthetically pleasing word. One of its
primary meanings is basically that if you are going to do
something, do it right. Partly, this belief is about the value of
quality. It is quite important and likely to become more so.
#3 Egocentricity and ethnocentricity --- this is a belief
Belief sets about the individual and their group are pretty
standard. Both egocentricity and ethnocentricity are natural
beliefs that usually aid in survival. The usual form of a persons
opinion about themselves or their group is that they are
superior. It is not normally clarified or much dwelt on, but it
is a fundamental and important belief, largely because it is
relative to that belief that values, priorities and goals are
formed. If a person does not think that they are special, they
will be handicapped in their ability to compete or even to value
survival. #3
The next belief set would include how we deal with our family,
tribe or society. This is similar to the previous example, only
more so. In the arena of survival, it makes perfect sense that
the family is the highest value. An individuals concepts of right
or wrong may relate to the society in one form, but the family is
likely to be judged by a completely different system. A
fundamental and critical aspect of individuals and societies is
their beliefs regarding the relative value of the individual,
family, community and society. Where are loyalties placed and how
is it judged? There are many other differences as well. How we
decide whether any individual is a member of "our" group, is
complex and discussed elsewhere.
######################## this should have those topics.. courtship, status
authority, religion goals status money summon aggressiveness and competition
**** START 8
## Thought Checking
Almost anything can be expressed as a duality. It is an
interesting statement and as it turns out, amazingly meaningless,
but it does lead to an interesting point. Conciously using more
than one point of view for both observation and problem analysis
enhances all intellectual processes. Some common philosophical
concepts, such an Yin and Yang, are formal expressions of this
method of thinking. In some instances, more than two useful
points of view can be produced, just as multiple definitions of
something can be useful. It probably has more to do with the
versatility of thought, rather than a limitation. Connections of
meanings.
This describes a way that a person might use to improve
their comprehension and avoid mistakes by using more than one
point of view. **That is undoubtedly part of the reason for the design of
the human brain into two parts with different thinking
characteristics.** One side of the brain handles verbal and
analytic processing while the other side handles pattern
recognition and long term thought processing. Using multiple
points of view also compensates for characteristic mistakes of
long term memory and so can make long term memory more accurate.
Particular odors can trigger vivid memories. A person can
associate ideas or concepts with sense of smell and use the
complex and efficient memory of the olfactory node of the brain,
to retain the complex ideas. It is just another tool of whatever
value it can be put to. There is a more interesting tool to be
described and considered. It has been called the person in
the back of your head. It is that clear objective conciousness
that you become aware of when you are busy making a mistake.
Sometimes it has been called a concience. In any case it is a
manifestation of multiple views of an individual. It is quite
useful in just about any social context. **expand and faith
#################################################################]]
intelligence is a seperate subject, should be under individual behavior
AND as effects or createsd belief. Comm is one of belief effects
*********END 8
Intelligence and Communication
Intelligence
social occupational
Behavioral release
Communication source
behavioral change
split brain
## Intelligence
So what is intelligence? It seems a pertinent question. Some
descriptions can be offered that will have different meanings in
different cases. Combined, they give useful understandings.
Intelligence, seemingly like everything else, has so many
meanings. It is the ability to learn, understand, communicate,
remember, associate and so much more. It gives awareness of
consequences over time. How about a useful description?
In genetic terms, intelligence is the inheritable
characteristic of being able to use information.
In the sense of biology, it is a social behavior. It is the
ability to remember, understand and influence the behavior of the
individuals that are around you. Ultimately this relates to
reproductive success or "survival".
Early on there developed different primary types of
intelligence. The abilities pertaining to social success, hunting
ability and tool using ability seem to be the broadest
distinctions of intelligence. Presently, intelligence must be
considered in the context of the different occupational castes.
There is a lot of deception in nature. Humans tend to develop
what strategies work best in the context of what is available to
them.
Through perhaps four million years, the ability to use tools
has been of primary and growing importance to the survival of
human kind. It is hard to say what our potentials for technology
are or what the potentials of technology are. Our potentials draw
on many sources that, though they are legacies of brilliant
thinkers, are still limited by the potential of the individual.
It must be remembered that, in general, the most important
knowledge is social knowledge and knowledge of self. We need
better tools to understand how to adjust to the present changes.
They will be partly solutions by mechanical technology, but the
real tools must be understandings of social forms that will
effectively serve us.
##### these are just methods of behavior, but relate to development and acceptence of belief
Following are four topics that relate to intelligence. They
are called:
Behavioral release, stimulation, demand of intelligence.
Learning Characteristics.
Communication source - Communication through the society.
Heuristic knowledge
## Behavioral release
Behavior is a genetically based potential just as a human is
a genetically based organism. Intelligence is as genetically
based as there are different races and types of intelligence.
There is what is referred to the fight or flight response or fight
or flight mechanism. The two terms refer to behaviors and the
genetic basis of those behaviors, respectively. There are few
relevant things that can be done in a danger situation. The most
common are fight or flight. If a situation of danger arises, a
human or most other animals, will either fight or run. It is a
genetically based behavior and it is released in response to a
stimulus in the environment. It is the same way for intelligence.
In any ones life there are the challenges and the events that
drew out and developed the potentials of intelligence that were
supplied by the genetics. Since development of the genetic
potentials can be achieved by teaching, a person may often
remember an individual that had a large effect or taught only one
lesson, but released some of the potential of that individual.
Each lesson represents an element of a persons development of
their intelligence. It would probably be correct to say that when
the genetic potential, called intelligence and environmental
release, called experience combine, they create the person in the
environment, or wisdom. The main meaning of wisdom is to as how
it solves problems, especially for the community or society. Note
here, that many times, a person of average or even less than
average intelligence may have the experiences that make wisdom.
The individuals potential, whatever it is, is not released or
developed until something in the environment stimulates or
demands the use of intelligence. This poses a direct
consideration relating both to education and beliefs.
Rarely does a person encounter a problem that demands an
appreciable part of their brain. Still, when questions arise, the
potentials of the brain attend to the problem. Though it is easy
to focus on technical intelligence, the commonest and most
meaningful expression of intelligence, is in the context of
personal or social problems. They also constitute the most
complex problems. Most technical problems are qualitatively
simpler than social or personal problems.
## end of Behavioral release
## Intelligence -- put with other intelligence heading ?
Intelligence can be likened to muscular strength. There is
raw strength and raw intelligence. Raw strength is how much
potential power is there to a person. How much power can they
produce in an emergency? Functional strength would refer to what
the person could do when weight lifting. Usable strength would be
how much controlled strength the person could apply to a task,
without thoroughly busting a knuckle. Raw intelligence is the
wild flight of the belief ??, reflected in the emotional power of the
individual. Uncontrollable and not something to get lost in.
Functional intelligence would be the depth of understanding
that the person can develop of their world. Usable intelligence
is what can be brought into focus for problem solving.
Intelligences evolved primarily for solving social problems,
secondarily for technical problems. Usable intelligence is
speed, breadth, wit, adaptability, understanding, creativity and
perhaps wisdom.
## Emergence
Michael Polanyi, a gifted scientist and philosopher, offered
some useful descriptions of the creative process of the mind.
Others, including Isacc Newton, have given the same description,
but Polanyi called it "heuristic knowledge". It is when a person
encounters a problem that they cannot solve quickly, based on
simplicity or experience. The persons intellectual resources
slowly turn to the problem until there is some conclusion. It is
not a matter of figuring and calculating. It is a matter of being
aware of the problem over time. It may take a day or days, or it
may take years, but if an answer is found it then "emerges". The
person becomes aware of the answer. "Emergence" as Polanyi called
it, takes a period of time as well. For the truly difficult
question, the person must become obsessed or fanatic, to get to
the solution. They must fall in love with the question. Then it
may take years, if the question ever does get solved.
This description is note worthy because it describes one of
the ways that humans solve problems. It also describes an aspect
of one of the highest potentials of intellect. A potential genius
becomes a genius when they encounter a problem sufficient to
adequately challenge the persons ability. It suggests that
form of genius is a very broad thing. Heuristic or encompassing,
thinking would represent an environmental effect that would be
part of the development of any persons intellectual potential.
## end of emergence
## Learning characteristics
There are many ways that a person can learn things. Some
have different characteristics. There is the type of learning
that produce changes in knowledge, such as schools. There is
learning of values and beliefs when young. Learning is relatively
easy, especially when young. Changing beliefs or relearning is
usually far more difficult. There is learning under situations
of stress, like extreme danger. This is a highly stimulated
state. There is learning by rote as opposed to learning by
pattern understanding. Each method is more appropriate to the
particular lesson and individual. You can get an "A" by giving
the teacher back what they taught you by rote. You get a "B" for
understanding what they said and giving back your understanding
of the subject. In the future we are going to have to promote the
ability and the methods of teaching in such a manner to use the
more natural learning states. Unfortunately, they work best when
young.
rephrase all of this and add ... responce to food toxin
## end of learning characteristics
## Communication Source
At both the individual and social level, where our
information comes from is comparable in importance to what
information is available. Some knowledge is gained from direct
experience, but most knowledge is of other peoples experiences.
Information is transferred at every encounter, from formal
education to socializing on a street. An individual is absolutely
dependent on the information they have available, whether it is
techniques of sanitation, food preparation, engineering,
philosophy, etc. Ideas new and old are everywhere. Artists,
scientists, writers, politicians, actors, neighbors and relatives
deluge us with ideas. We listen to them selectively, examined by our
intellect and values, deciding what to hear or think about.
Intelligence is used to gather, store, edit and redistribute
information. Communication is by words, symbols and emotion
conveyed by words, grammar, expression, inflection and gesture.
Someone that can do this is referred to as a "communication
source" for the importance of this function, to human survival.
A communication source must be able to gather, understand and
redistribute information. It is a function that serves the
society according to the importance of information. Communication
ability is a fundamental form of intelligence that seems largely
the same as the form that creates new information. Often the
function of a priest is as a communication source.
As the different lobes of the brain function differently,
there are different corresponding forms of communication natural
to each side. The left side deals with words and analysis. The
right side specializes in patterns and emotion, the things
usually called unconscious. We take understanding from the words
of the right side and belief from the patterns of the left. Often
we cannot put ideas that we have into words. That is not
suprising, because we can understand patterns with the right
non-verbal side of our brain that are too complex for our left,
verbal, side of the brain to describe in words. We also judge
truth, emotion and its quality, with the non-verbal, right. One
development of intellect, is the conscious recognition and
utilization of the different potentials of the mind, with a
minimum of conflict.
A major component of our communication ability is emotional
or non-verbal and so is processed by the unconscious side of the
brain. The unconscious mind is not usually trained to edit and
analyze the information that it usually picks up on. We accept
emotions. People fall on a scale of "emotional potential" that
seems to follow a simple mathematical progression of emotional
power. It is expressed as communication ability and is an element
of the ability of a communication source. It may relate to speed
and complexity of inflection and signal during communication. In
any case, it is like the effect of an excited or amused person.
Emotion communicates and is contagious. A person with a higher
emotional potential or in a higher emotional state, will
unconsciously effect the person that they are communicating to.
This is part of the ability of a communication source. We judge
truthfulness, partly, on how smoothly a story is related. Humans
have an excellent relative time sense. Tiny breaks in timing can
be detected. It is part of social intelligence. The finer that a
person can detect non-verbal communication or transmit it, the
more intelligent they are and their greater potential as a
communication source.
Another interesting point of this relates to this "emotional
potential". It has profound effect and may have to do with speed
or complexity. Still, there is probably far more to it than
that. Though emotions are hard to grasp, most people have, quite
naturally, developed some understanding of their emotions and
emotional interactions in the society. We learn to avoid
emotional highs or over stimulation. Emotion is one of the
greatest of stimulants. We learn to recognize emotional
manipulation and are wary of people that do it. We all seem to
know what the term emotional vampire or vacuum is. A person that
gets their stimulation from consciously messing with other
peoples emotions. We get angry when we must consciously defend our
emotions. Since it is the most natural way that we communicate
and experience, most people try to keep their emotional responses
natural, spontaneous as is the common state and in nature. In our
more complex society, we do require more knowledge of the nature
of emotions and communication, but happiness is mostly a natural
response. In a harsh environment, more understanding and
discipline is demanded. Part of wisdom is the recognition of
emotional states and communication, as well as the need for the
avoidance of their abuse. The nature of emotional potential is
odd and is probably much of the basis behind stories of magic and
some cases of psychic phenomena. Since it is largely perceived by
the right, non-analytic, side of the brain, it tends to be
absorbed without editing or judgement. This allows for a great
deal of manipulation of an individual. The more the emotional
potential, the more the potential to communicate and influence.
Compatibility is largely based on emotional potential. Two people
must be able to mutually stimulate the other, yet not emotionally
overwhelm them. High emotional potential could be called
emotional power and it can give a feeling of power and
superiority that leads to emotional manipulation and abuse.
If used consciously and abusively, it soon becomes a dangerous
cheap thrill. Emotional potential has a large part to do with
how we judge a person that we meet. Emotional communication is
immediate, fast and revealing. It seems that a person of low
potential can easily spot a person of higher potential, yet it is
not the other way around. This might make sense from the view of
the potential being based largely on speed. A slower person could
quickly judge if a person is faster than themselves, but a fast
person is not clearly aware if a person is actually slower. It is
a characteristic blind spot of highly intelligent people, yet
they still use the abilities of the potential. The end result is
that emotional potential describes the ability, primarily
unconscious, to communicate and persuade non-verbally.
Intelligence must be tested or shown to be perceived.
Emotional potential is often recognized immediatly upon encounter
and is relatively easy to spot when attention is given to
non-verbal signals. The amazing thing is that accurate judgement
of emotional potential gives an accurate judgement of
intelligence. That is by a variety of criteria.
It is too bad that it is so hard to understand, recognize
and quantify emotions and communication, both to utilize the
potentials and to learn their inherent hazards in our more
complex society. When looking at communication, the non-verbal
and the unconscious are extremely important. Conscious and
sub-conscious or did you say
## end of Comm source
##################################################################
Really, this book was written for superior people. In this
case, superior is meant to refer to those with superior traites
of intelligence, faith, agressiveness, sexuality or some other
useful social survival potential. It is meant primarily as a tool
for those with the adaptive behaviors of intelligence and/or
faith. All of these behaviors tend to exist together, though they
are rarely developed in the same person.
#################################################################
put under reproduction or selection
##STRESS
Stress
This discussion is about developing a livable ecology. The
hazards of an ecology produce stress. Minor stress is
stimulating. Excessive stress causes death. In biology stress is
considered in the context of zones. There is the comfortable
survival zone, called a promiscuous environment. There is the
other extreme, the zone that is fatal for some reason. The stress
factor may be simple like a total lack of water or it may be more
complex. Somewhere in between is a dividing point between a
survival zone where an adult can survive and reproduce, the
reproductive zone, and a zone where an adult could live, but for
some reason could not successfully raise children. Stress might
be a lack of food or water, or it might be too much disturbance
during pregnancy, or it might be to many demands of basic
individual survival to allow time for the necessities of having
children.
This is an important issue for humans because we are trying
to live in an ecology that we are not perfectly adapted to and
that causes stress. The changes that we are experiencing are so
profound that we often end up risking ending stressed out of the
reproductive zone and even out of the individual survival zone.
This represents critical limitations.
## end of stress
####### both behavior and beliefs
The Sun and The Moon
discussion of individual morality, including male and female.
## Freindship
Friendship can mean different things. A masculine model
of friendship is instinctively based, relating back to the tribal
hunting parties. The tribal hunting parties developed amazing
abilities of communication and cooperation within a team. In
these cases, friendship is not particularly rational except in
the respect of reinforcing the team. Women do not have a
corrosponding behavior. They are not so different that they can
not exhibit this behavior, they just rarely develop it. This is
unfortunate in that it is likely that the potentials of a team,
working as a social behavior, are the highest development of
human social behavior.
## end of freindship
## Masculine and feminine
To a large extent, the purpose of this book is to examine
different beliefs and their consequences. One category of beliefs*********
would be the differences between men and women. They have use for
different strategies corresponding to their real differences. As
said before, the basic difference relates to differences in
reproductive potential. Due to human potential and circumstance,
strategy is not gender specific. Women can use masculine
strategies and men can use feminine strategies. Since this is to
look at contrasting strategies and beliefs rather than
reproductive traits, the chapter is called the sun and moon to
symbolize the broad differences in strategy that is usually
called masculine and feminine. It turns out to be appropriate.
One apparent characteristic of vertebrate behaviors if that
the it could be usefully said that the female is more directed
towards quality and the male more towards quantity. Monogamy makes
it such that they both must be oriented towards the quality
strategy, but males competed for far longer than they have been
even superficially monogamous.
Since masculine behavior generally relates to display, it is
direct and very straight forward. Aggressive displays are meant
to be seen. Subtlety or misdirection is considered relatively
feminine. A male dominates with a frontal attack. A female
directs and entraps. It is often mentioned that Alexander and
Julius, both homosexuals, used deceit to lead their stronger
enemies into traps. Masculinity comes in many shades. It can be
machismo that demands satisfaction for any insult. Machismo is
very much oriented around display behavior. Cultures that are
more serious in their violence, tend to avoid displays and use a
strategy of strong response to outside acts of aggression to
reduce initial acts. A female will say that the best way to avoid
a fight is to walk away. It can be true. A male knows that the
best way to reduce attacks is to make them cost the aggressor. It
is similar to armed deterrence. Even passivity is interpreted as
submissive. Since aggression is an on going behavior,
submissiveness does not prevent aggression, it just deals with it
by reducing its frequency and severity. Females have very little
use for aggression. If they do fight, it is basically for self
preservation and so they do not have some of the inhibitions
against killing, that men have. Females will promote competition
and perhaps fights to make choices about the men.
This was initially examined as simply a few more behaviors
to be categorized according to belief, strategy and consequences.
It turns out, as usual, that it is far from simple. The meaning
of masculinity or femininity is based on simple central concepts
or meanings with numerous complex parts that are consequences.
The parts are how the central concepts logically project into the
real world. The parts are like the strategy of a man competing
for the attention of a woman or a woman promoting the competition
to see how the males respond. Both are based on the basic
behavioral concepts, but the parts are how humans operate. One of
these parts is called aggressiveness. Other parts are just as
#####
complex and important. Dualities can be a tool to aid
understanding or they can cause errors of satisfaction and
omission. Masculine or feminine can be used to describe almost
any human strategy or drive. It may not apply to some situations
and be a deceptive analogy or since our fundamental design is for
reproduction, it may be a useful truism. In any case, in the
context of passive creativity verses aggressive exploitation,
or any other description, it
can be used to provide a description of the most important human
beliefs and strategies basic to the recent changes in human
ecology.
In essence, they may well represent
different relative positions on a single cline, related to ego.
The Sun and Moon
It is too bad that the terms masculine and feminine are so
associated with gender. It becomes misleading. Masculine and
feminine refer to basic strategies available to both men and
women, appropriate to different times and circumstances.
An ecology may be relatively stable or it may be disturbed.
In ecological terms, this is refered to as R and K conditions.
Humans have been trying to make stable personal environments. War
and catastrophy create confusion and upheaval. We adapt to both.
Are there fundemental strategies to these different conditions?
This is a good place to look for the binary symetry common in
nature.
The biggest common factor to human history, aside from
disease, has been war. Our past 6000 years of history have been
based on the disruptive effects of catastrophy and growth. It has
been a time for a behavioral system suited to the disrupted
environment. What is generally refered to as masculinity is that
behavioral system. Feminine is the behavioral system more
suitable to a less disturbed ecology.
There are different ways to interpret or exhibit masculine
and feminine behaviors. Machismo is a well known term used to
describe a particularly extreme form of masculinity.
These are words used to describe, non-sexual, attributes of
masculine and feminine behaviors.
dominant or aggressive and passive or submissive
active and passive
exploitive and creative
direct or
then it becomes a matter of strategy.
//////
A wise friend of mine said that the decline of the British
Empire corrisponded to the raising of male children by their
mothers rather than their fathers. This was a practice that grew
as the success of the empire lead to an affleunce that supported
a complex home life.. where the woman had more presence... It
makes sense in the context of warfare being the most masculine of
behaviors. Women would not promote warfare, indeed they would
more likely work against it. It is nearly fundementally immoral
from a feminine point of view. The British Empire, as most
empires, was built of and on war. You figure.
So what is the lesson?
Neither masculine or feminine is so unbalanced in basis or
strategy as to be extremely different. A "stable ecology" can
only differ from a "disturbed ecology" by so much. Both masculine
and feminine must have similar potentials, to respond to similar
situations that will occur in any ecology, disturbed or not.
Certain events comprise survival, regardless of the strategy that
is being used. Masculine and feminine is related to a disturbed
ecology and an undisturbed ecology, respectively. Can masculine
deal with an undisturbed ecology and feminine deal with a
disturbed ecology? This is a critical issue. Partly, it is the
question of "how can a peaceful person deal with an aggressive
person"? How can a passive principle deal with an active
principle? The other side of the question is whether a masculine
strategy can deal with an undisturbed ecology?
The determining factor in history has been that the
militarists have won. The non-militarists have survived, using
strategies inherent to the stratified society, that might be
considered masculine since they were strategies for a disturbed
ecology. In this sense, is it aggressiveness is an active
principal of survival, without fighting, or is it a feminine
passive strategy, as a responce to a disturbed ecology.
The militarists have so decisivelly won, to present, that
almost all existing humans have enough potential for war that
deterence as a strategy works. Presently war is extremely costly,
because most humans can fight quite well. The focus of evolution
moves away from warfare because it is so common an ability. It
will not go away, but it is limited by deterence.
Rarely will humans exist in a relatively disturbed ecology.
It is against much of the definitions of ecology. Balances occur
and extremes vanish. This will be the force in the direction of
the feminine. It is unlikely that that a feminine strategy can
deal with a disturbed ecology, especially war. If a society
forgets war, it cannot prevent conquest by a society using
masculine strategies. This defines much of the nature of the
balanced that individuals and societies must strike to create a
lasting ecology.
The question of masculine dealing with undisturbed ecologies
Historically, genetically and philosophically, the only way
to deal with agression has been fight or flight. Flight, a
passive responce that includes appeasement, would have to be
. A fight responce would be ? mas fem fight responce?
feminine may promote some fight responce, but it inherently
would not create a warfare responce. If warfare can be made a
successful strategy, as has been the case in recent human
history, only
If masculine and feminine are only meaningful as a
description of social behaviors of organization and reproduction,
is war an altogeyher different behavior? Is interaction with
"other" groups, war, similar to, but fundementally different to
interactions within the society, that are aggressive features of
what is called called masculine and feminine? Within a society,
aggressiveness is a reproductive display behavior. Generally,
higher vertebrates, reproductive battles are displays that leave
little lasting damage. War, aggression against a different
society, is meant to kill. Some who are socially aggressive,
find that they cannot kill in a war.
If war developed before social behaviors or as an offshoot
of of them, its specificity of function makes it so different
from social aggression, that it should be considered seperately
from the social behaviors of masculine and femine. It is a basic
instinct to survive dangers from outside the society. In this
context it is a bevahior basic to both men and women, especially
in wars of extremination. It will continue to evolve that way.
end ## masculine and feminine
//////
this is aggressive behavior, do not forget belief.
##-discussion of aggression
AGGRESSIVE
As said already, aggressive is a word with many important
meanings to humans. The first meaning mentioned was as it acted
as an active principle that greatly enhanced creativity and other
abilities. The second view was as aggressiveness as a male
reproductive behavior, primarily display. The third view to
examine is real violence, its effects and corresponding beliefs.
The disruptive and dynamic effects of war have been a major cause
of hybridization. That includes the effects of marriage for
diplomacy and slavery.
Almost all species instinctively avoid attacking or damaging
another member of their own specie. It is a hazard to the specie,
in the long run. For the vertebrates, aggressiveness normally
means displays with very little real damage done. Even the
impressive, bloody displays of the Elephant Seals, as they battle
for breeding beaches, rarely cause any significant injury. The
tendency to avoid damaging violence is called displacement
avoidance behavior
. The individuals of warrior races would have reduced
displacement behavior. At the same time, it would require a
greater ability to discriminate, who "their" people are, so as to
avoid attacking them. The lessening of displacement, would also
relate to the normal human view of "us and them". In general
then, war and most real violence is an anomaly in biology, but
then so are humans. Normally, creative habits are the rule. Few
????
other species can act as a predator on their own specie. No other
specie has had the diversity to be able to have a specialized
sub-niche.
Most human populations have always been very local and so
violence by an individual was most likely to hurt a person that
was related. Cooperation was the winning strategy. As agriculture
developed, violence became less appropriate to the grain farmers
that started the cities. It did become useful to the pastoralist
groups though. When the pastoralists attacked the cities, the
civil peoples could not even resist. As the niche for the cities
and agriculture developed, so did the niche for predatory human
groups with a reduced displacement behavior. All during the time
of the stratified society, the warriors ruled both due to the
effectiveness of aggressive strategies in the existing power
vacuums and because of its inherent organizational form. During
this period the focus of evolution strongly moved towards
selection for aggressive potentials. It seems likely that
will change now since aggressiveness has had such a selective
advantage that it is almost a universal trait. The open niche for
aggressiveness is closing. It is economical to conquer people that
cannot fight back, but even limited aggressive potential can make
a group difficult to subjugate. Aggressiveness is a social
behavior, actually a reproductive behavior, converted to a
resource strategy and a social system. The success of
aggressiveness was based more upon its organizational potential
than its exploitive potential. Aggressive races have tended to
cause their own demise.
This then leads to a question of what aggressiveness would
mean in the circumstances that are developing, also, more
generally, is it more related to a question of a desire for
exploitation or control? At any time is aggressiveness to
subjugate or to replace the people being fought.
Aggressive violence is not only a question of reduced
displacement behavior, it is a set of beliefs that is part of the
morality of the tribe and individual. In part, it is the belief
that violence is a very useful survival strategy. It works well
in a power vacuum where there is no aggressive response
available. It gets a little more complex, because the warrior is
taught that rarely is any violence tolerated within the tribe or
community. Violence is to be used only against "others". Violence
within the tribe would occur, but under highly regulated
conditions. A tribe that fights within itself, is risking
extinction.
For as much as it takes to motivate and train your average
soldier, it seems unlikely that most humans are predisposed to
real violence. What was one of the messages of the archetypical
figure, John Wayne? It was basically - do not start fights, but
never give in to aggression. Normal human response is, as
expected, avoid violence even if it means giving in. As human
ecologies have changed over time, there has been a general
increase in the utility of violence. That trend seems to be
peaking out with the present changes.
War is a very developed art. To skip some speculation, most
history of violence is left unexamined. There were peaceful
times, ruthless times, brilliance and unbelievable excesses. By
itself, war has done very much to mold what we are. The most
important part of that though, relates to the values, beliefs and
institutions that were imprinted on culture by the conquering
races. As the utility of aggressive violence is reduced, what
about the aggressive aspects of the culture? The stratified
society was primarily created by and for warriors. We have been
ruled by warriors for more than 3000 years of our recent critical
development. Yet the progress of that time that is leading to a
mature civilization, was made by thinkers with very different
beliefs, values and strategies.
It becomes a question of how a creative, peaceable person or
society can respond to aggression. Note that there is a
difference of point of view between masculine and feminine at
this point. Feminine strategy suggests withdrawal, which fails as
a strategy in a multi-tribal situation. Another masculine,
war-like society would opt for victory. The only response to
aggression that is viable, is aggression, so an individual with
creative values must be able to back them up with aggression to
protect their existence and what they create. It is uneconomical
to attack a group or individual that will fight back. It is
always economical to attack a creative group that will not.
Life is a challenge. Often we must make important decisions
with little background on the problem. Our present society is so
noticeably based on the exploitive values learned from our
militaristic ancestors, that a creative person is forced to be
very conscious of their beliefs and values, even if knowledge of
their source is limited. A person develops their own philosophy.
If our society and its individuals are developing in the
direction of a more creative existence, where will aggression
relate? A person might be opposed to violence, but recognize it
as the only real deterrent to violence.. Or else war will return.
## end discussion of aggression
## something
A thought to think. Our survival is based on our social
habit. Our social ability, much of our intelligence, is based
around communication. What if we had telepathy? What would be
some of the effects of the ability to communicate mind to mind.
An important aspect of social interaction involves deception.
Especially in a competitive situation, deception can be
important. Perhaps psychic ability would cause problems. More
relevantly, what about our sense of smell. When talking about
communication, it must be considered that the sense of smell
can communicate a great deal of information. A good sense of
smell would give many clues about a persons emotional state,
amoung other things. Normally, evolution does not select against
an integral or functional trait, but is it posssible that
evolution has promoted limitations on some forms of human
communication. Perhaps this is to allow an individual to be
deceptive.... It may be something related to men and women.
## end something
SELF belief ? behavior? under consideration of altruism, like repro
Sillynous
************* start 10 ??? ##selfishness
*******selfishness one of many common and well known mistakes
against social survival, add more
This is written about survival. It is to describe a number
of factors and their meanings. Especially important are
moralities, or survival techniques and are taught primarily by
families and secondarily by religions or media. Of all the
lessons that must be taught and learned, there is one worth
mentioning at this point for reference through this book. We must
learn to avoid simple mistakes like thinking that the simplest
answer must be the best or that if it works now, use it
regardless of future consequence. What has to be the commonest of
silly mistakes committed all to often is unnecessary selfishness.
We have gotten where we are by the ability to cooperate. The
simplest concept is to think of taking care of only your self. It
is an excess of interest in personal satisfaction at the cost of
family or society. One component of social behavior is to be able
to understand why a society is a cooperative effort and why
helping the society helps oneself. It must also be taught to
children as a moral precept. All through this book complex ideas
are discussed, many go against habits and instincts that are
appropriate to our past, but the simplest and commonest place
that people seem to make stupid mistakes, is balancing immediate
self interest. Between short sightedness and simple selfishness,
we could easily go extinct without even having to resort to a
difficult or complex dilemma. We could die of sillyness. These
are discussed more later. ##end of selfishness
## social - commun, cooperat
Humans are highly social. To be mature, a human must have their
social behaviors highly developed. A person must know communication,
cooperation, respect, love, reliance and other complex behaviors that
are learned during our long childhood. As with other behaviors, there
is a genetic basis for the potential of the behavior. Then the
behavior must be learned by education or discovery. For humans, the
normal way to develop social behaviors, is by education and example of
family and community. Behaviors with a strong genetic base develop
easily with a little appropriate education. In the absence of
adequate education, the individual still requires the behavior. It is
not just the communities push for conformity, it is also the
individuals need to function in the society that pushes the
development of social behaviors. A person will work to develop a
social behavior that they were not taught, so that they can function
in the society. If a person does not learn the more complex social
behaviors as a child, they will only learn them as an adult if the
need is there. The genes alone are not enough to teach complex
behaviors. A person must eventually learn these behaviors or they
will not function properly or be happy. This all leads to a point
about wealth. A feature of wealth, referring to affluence rather than
wealth as a tool, is that it can give a great deal of independence to
its user. If a family has wealth and fails to carefully teach its
children the important social behaviors, the independence of the
children will prevent them from ever learning to be social or mature.
Due to our long life and the general circumstance of human
existence, it is common that a few times in our life we end up in
serious difficulty. What may be a small gesture by another
person, may figuratively or literally, be a lifesaver. A small
expenditure of effort may result in a large positive effect. This
situation is common and so has had great importance to human
survival strategy as they have adapted to the continuously
changing circumstances of human ecology. ##altruism
##
## Something about social behaviors
There is a cute term in biology, ontogeny recapitulates
phylogany and it may be literally true. It is usually to refer to
the development of a fetus. As a fetus develops it goes through
stages reflective of the phylogenetic route of the organisms
evolution. This is why a human shows gills, a tail and other
vestigial traits during fetal development. It seems that there is
a corresponding situation in the development of human psychology.
Maturity brings the behaviors of a civil human. When young, we
exhibit behaviors that are simple and seemingly like the
behaviors of earlier forms. Selfishness is the behavior most
appropriate to a pre-tribal or early tribal human. Cooperation is
a behavior of humans, highly developed since the time of the big
game hunters. Still, it requires great learning to truly utilize
and value cooperation.
Lack of cooperation may be because of lack of knowledge,
lack of skill or lack of inclination. It may be lack of
education, stupidity or intentional out of malice or some
dominance game. It is unfortunate that one of the offshoots of
aggressive values is demonstration of control by obstuctionism.
Human organization is so complex and fragile that an individual
can disrupt a larger organization, that they are part of. It is
hard to believe how much one turkey can disrupt traffic flow on a
highway by stupidity, carelessness or intent.
Development of inclination and technique for cooperation,
including communication, is an essential part of future human
development.
*************** END of 10 ##social
***************** START 11
FREEWAYS ?
This is another model, that is to describe some behaviors.
Consider a word like altruism. It means acting to help another.
In terms of genetics, it is extremely important, but from the
same point of view, it must be considered whether the act of
altruism "harmed" or cost the person acting altruistic or if
their assistance did not cost them. Also the idea of altruism
inherently relates to genetic relatedness. In any case, there is
great limitation to our ability to describe small, but
significant nuances to beliefs and behaviors. Consider the
meanings and consequences of any type of aggressive behavior.
Violent, active, exploitive, opportunistic, direct, indirect,
consequential,.. inconsequential.. in a social context. Some kind
of simplified model of social interactions must be developed.
There is a model where hundreds of simple social interactions can
be examined in a short period of time. Any transportation system
will serve, but after doing time on Sepulveda Pass, the system
used for this description is a freeway. This model is very
different than the previous one about cars reflecting genetics.
This model is to describe interactions that can be used to
reflect just about every social interaction. Some people go
faster and some people go slower. Most people go with traffic,
some do not care. Things are very different when the traffic is
heavy or light. The model can be used to examine consequences of
actions under different levels of load. It shows that an
aggressive / opportunist action that would be unnoticed under
conditions of low load, may be aggressive / exploitive and quite
consequential in a system with greater competition.
Have you heard of a snake? There is always rocket man there
on your left. There are dummies, crazies, clutzs and
conservatives. How about a Boston. That is where a line of left
turners travel bumper to bumper such as to prevent the cars going
straight, with the legal right of way, from proceeding. It is an
excellent analog, useful for understanding or communication, of a
particular interaction of individuals in a society. Consideration
of this model can be a great aid in conceptualizing some social
interactions.
Sometimes, passing a person on the highway does not
interfere with their progress. Especially if the highway is not
crowded. If the pass is done carelessly or when competing for
limited space, it slows the person down. This is a model of
aggressiveness. Sometimes an aggressive action does not effect
others. Sometimes it does. When resources are limited, the
meaning of aggressive goes from active to competitive or
exploitive. Funny little model, but worth thought.
FREEWAY MODEL
I grew up in L.A. during the period of time that included
much of the maturation of the freeway and its associated traffic.
Sepulveda pass was partly two lanes. It is now ten plus lanes and
can take near an hour to cross if traffic is heavy. In that time,
the driving habits have visibly developed. People have learned how
to make their trip smoother and efficient, in the face of some
truly nutsy traffic. People change lanes less frequently.
Observation shows that the different lanes generally move nearly
equally. There seems to be little advantage to much lane changing.
Since the nature of heavy traffic is movement in pulses, any lane
moving will soon stop and a stopped lane will soon be moving.
Only an excessive number of very fast, excellently planned moves
is going to make any qualitative difference in position. We have
all tested that. A smooth, straight drive produces the destination
almost as fast as any maneuvers that are even vaguely legal.
Strategy and planning of route, can help though.
Traffic is a social interaction and it illustrates social
behaviors in other social circumstances. One individuals actions,
effect others. Freeways, like society, has laws that regulate
these interactions.
On a freeway, in the context of what the traffic load is at
the time, all different forms of social interaction can occur
quickly in simple schematic form. Situations could be
categorized.
Behaviors
a. Simple non-social active "aggressive"
Active driving on a non-crowded freeway.
b. Active exploitive ( of situation ) social "aggressive"
Taking advantage of an opening on a medium load freeway.
c. Active, aggressive, exploitive "aggressive"
Can only be social - cutting off someone to gain motion.
d. Active, aggressive, exploitive, territorial "aggressive"
Obstructing traffic.
e. Conformity
Driving with traffic.
f. Non-conformity, anti-social
Causing obstruction by ignoring the flow of traffic.
g. Non-conformity, social
Not with flow of traffic, but avoiding causing obstruction
By staying in slow lane
h. Failure of social behavior
Not "aggressive" active enough to be able to drive the high
energy system.
i. Stupidity
Intentional or unintentional - self explanatory.
Consequential, mistake, habit
*****************END 11
******************* BEGIN 15
more beliefs... this would be introduction
Spectrums and Balance of Belief
Many human behaviors and beliefs can be described as
spectrums, dualities and balances. Sometimes it even means
something. It is part of how we adapt.
So much of the reality of psychology does relate to balance.
It is why we seek explanations for the unknown. Perhaps it could
be better called tension.
There are balances in an individual relating to masculine
verses feminine. There are balances in the making of a decision.
When considering the balance of human psychology or more
specifically, an individuals understanding of their world, it does not
need to be completely logical or even complete, but it must be
consistent. An individual may even have one knowledge and belief
system that they use for operating their life and another collection
of knowledge and belief that is being examined for utility and
consistency. On special occasions, different systems can be used.
##
b+b A person that is selfish may be too self centered to
effectively act in any social situation including community,
family or child raising.
Does "ego" refer to ones self opinion or self opinion in relation
to others. Ego is a different thing for everyone, but when it leads
to anti-social behavior is when it is overdeveloped in relation to
others. A person with too high of a relative opinion of themselves
cannot interact effectively socially.
#### ? move
The hybridization of two different psychological traits
will produce a psychological balance. Consider the
characteristics of a timid, civil Sumerian crossed with
aggressive, mobile northern warrior. Not only is there some
conflict and resolution, there is also an ability to judge and
consider, that is developed by the creation of the balances that
any individual must make to resolve their own conflicting drives.
This ability for judgemental balance is extremely important to
humans as we develop.
This book says that the niche of the warrior is closing
because knowledge of and ability for warfare, is wide spread and
common enough that warfare fails as a strategy. It becomes
uneconomical. It is only economical to carry on a war with groups
that are not warlike. What would happen if peace lasted long
enough for war to be forgotten? It is not really a natural state.
If the ability and knowledge of war were lost, might not the
niche reopen?
This book describes resources and wealth. It describes
resources as food, money, beauty, position, brains, affluence,
personnel wealth, social wealth, natural and created wealth,
genetics, poverty, and status. How does one strike a balance
between wealth and morality.
This book is about how the improvement of the human
condition has contributed to damage and danger to the whole human
gene pool as well as the moral and cultural basis of our society.
Only artificial selection can offset the genetic hazards, but
what knowledge and beliefs must we develop to create the society
that we will require.
How can a balance be struck in issues such as these?
This whole think looks like drivvel
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