Evolving Beyond Man's Predatory Instincts

avatar
(Edited)

Evolving Beyond Our Nature.pngImage Created from a Number of CC Licence Sources (see below to credit)

This post was inspired by a comment I posted on a prominent steemian's blog a few weeks ago. In their video they were positing the idea that we are like gazelle, and that to find success you should be a lion. An analogy that is limited in its very nature of classifying humans in such narrow terms as either predator or prey. After all, how does the lion think?

Does the lion spend days/weeks/years building strategies to trap and limit the pray to build a vast store of carcasses that it could never eat in a million years?

Does the lion withhold resources from the hyena pack to maintain a position of dominance over the whole prairie?

The answer to both of those questions is no!

A lion understands instinctively how to hunt and maintain balance in its environment. All of the traits I listed above are human predatory behavior. Humans are both a social animal and a predatory one - with the lack of any other creatures to focus that predatory instinct on, we now turn it on each other.

The validity of this type of metaphor, that places humans in a position of a predator or prey animal is far too simplistic. I've seen that type of 'so called' motivational writing all over the internet for a long time and it is providing simple concepts of success and failure that don't address the inherent complexity of the human condition, usually with the writer painting themselves as a lion who has all the answers of how you can be one.

Some people live a life that is wonderful, beautiful and meaningful, but not successful, by your definition, or many other peoples definition.

The car, the house, the job, the 401K, the crypto cash stack, the motivational blog, the Instagram fame... all someone's definition of success.

But there are other definitions; those who tread lightly upon this planet and do NO harm, that is a successful existence IMO. Someone who limits their impact upon this planet, at this point in time when it is becoming increasingly obvious that we are destroying it, is a successful modern human being.

We all live, and then we die... and then we are no more.

You can not take your wealth with you, and more importantly your achievements mean nothing unless they improve things for more people than just you. And, unless they improve things without harming on the flip side of the coin. This is no more evident than in big business.

You will often hear the Bezos' of this world say things like 'I create jobs and industry where before there was none. I put food in peoples mouths.'

Sure, at the cost of keeping people in poverty through the process of sourcing cheap foreign labor to maximize cost savings. The currency of misery is always the last thing people like that want to talk about.

But back to the gazelle and lion analogy.

Here's the thing. The reality is, if you are going to believe the narrative of someone telling you about what success is, you are buying into their story. Similarly, people buy into society's idea of success, or those people around them, or their family... whoever is selling you their idea of success, they will all tell you that this is reality.

It's only their reality, and it is something they are selling!

As long as you live well and do as little harm as possible, everything else is just buying in to conditioning.

Move outside of other peoples narrative, and you make your own story.

Intelligence is the key out of this uroboros of self-destruction that we, as a species, perpetuate. Our continued repeating of history, stems not from an immutable compulsion of nature - as some philosophers would have it - but from humans trying to act as predatory animals in a world where the only prey we haven't completely subdued is our fellow human beings. This is why we war.

We are like a cat batting at it's own reflection in a mirror and wondering why it's paws are hurting.

There is no point, from a survival point of view for war!

Yet, it's a business that some humans thrive on, and it all comes down to competition, and our need for competition due to our defunct human predatory nature.

As with the lion and the gazelle analogy which is limited by its very nature as it buys into only what has gone before, and not what we have the potential to ultimately BE.

We often compete because that is our PAST instinctual behavior. Thinking outside of this box is essential for us as a species to find an evolution of thought, which is the only way to evolve the human animal moving forwards.

We evolve, or we stagnate... or we destroy the planet that sustains us!

Decentralization and crypto gives us a chance at a different dynamic, it is still a competitive dynamic, but it has the potential to remove a certain amount of the negative influence of power.

I always envisioned crypto as the first of many technologies to fragment old structures of power by completely removing any chance of centralized control.

Decentralization has the potential to remove the tools that humans use to steer everything they build toward their own self interest, including political structures. I don't care if this would cause chaos in the short term as the long term is much more important. Changing behaviors on a global scale is the only thing that will save us, and our planet, from ourselves. I think that decentralization, and the technologies that emerge from it, could be a vehicle to achieve fundamental evolutionary change.

I guess what I'm trying to say in this blog is.... think for yourself. Don't believe someone else's definitions of what success is and forge your own path.

Thanks for reading my thoughts.

The images used in this post was created by me using GIMP photo editor using a variety of creative commons images. Sources to credit: 1 2 3. If you have enjoyed this freewrite & Photography post, please check out my other work on my homepage @raj808.

Resteemanim.gif

Footer_raj808.png

3DLAmCsuTe3bV13dhrdWmiiTzq9WMPZDTkYuSGyZVu3GHrAbtKdbCg2bpb1PVEzrD5K5GbfBAd9w6HUdzejmevnGuizyX9v2e22GXnwGhdJiMswzkbxcWdmMGnVBJ4inhQN8TXcueuJwUgbWZHpsdNx2DsJt654.png

banner-divisorio_2.jpg

4PYjjVwJ1UdtC5FGc4dbhnimoSgD7UrMDvdWGwMTzRwXoPiXEz6fqBG2BCSgm2NbBFv8GBh5uaAyz96hKG4aJpKcPSNLimE6GCjJVf49Lgv.png

natural medicine.gif

IOW_WM_BLACK.png



0
0
0.000
14 comments
avatar

Exactly I believe that most things humans do irespective of what they say is tilted towards self interest I did something like this in a video and of course I believe we're not as brilliant or indispensable as to why we see ourselves as predators, what if we're not? Motivational speeches are the most unreasonable things I've ever heard and the truth is how true has the wealth of those that have acquired it freely impacted people without collecting back? This is beautifully written if you ask me. Well-done

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

Cheers Jose.

yeah, for me I've never been a fan of motivational speakers... or consumerism. Lol, this post kinda takes in both things, but I honestly believe that it is the biggest step to the next stage of human evolution to move beyond instinctual imperatives that no longer serve us, such as the predatory one.

What prey do we have left? Cattle are subdued through farming, we're slowly causing the extinction of wildlife that shares our planet. The idea I express in this article that I'm most sure of is that most of the ills caused by humans on humans in this world is because of this defunct imperative.

Yet, people continue to buy into a system that no longer serves us. Part of that is money, and the acquisition of power. There are too many people on this planet for these constructs to do anything but harm now. Maybe in the past a central power was needed to keep order and move society in a positive direction, but now with increasing automation across the world, all that will happen is more and more poor people.

I don't know how it can be achieved, but an evolution of thought is needed or we will burn our world down around our ears... and part of that is the perpetuation of ideas that competition and predatory behaviors are either, the right way, or the only way.

ha ha, rant over ;-)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Truth is people will keep buying into these centralised system even if it's bringing a certain kind of demise really. The fact that some set of people will often feel that need to be on top of the food chain of power and wealth is the reason why we may never fully be decentralized as humans sharing sovereign equity, empathy and love for ourselves and our environments. Honestly it's concerning

0
0
0.000
avatar

Great piece of writing! Thanks

0
0
0.000
avatar

Cheers sunsethunter.

I'm glad you enjoyed my musings :)

0
0
0.000
avatar

I am actually a lion but don't worry, only in appearance. i won't eat anyone :0)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Ha ha, well beyond all the seriousness expressed in this blog...

I'm a tiger.... Rarrrrrrrr

Or maybe more like a partridge 😆🤪

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hehe, I always liked a bit of Partridge!

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

He really is the daddy of cringe comedy.

Gervais can go fck a duck as far as I'm concerned.

Alan Partridge is way better than David Brent. Although I did enjoy 'Extras' very much.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Well said and wonderful insight. I think (hope) we are starting to see a change. @tryskele

curation.png
If you like what we do, consider delegation or following our curation trail on Steemauto. All are welcome to join us on Discord.
weelotus.png

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi tryskele

I think (hope) we are starting to see a change.

I hope so. It is rapidly approaching the point where our options will be limited to getting off the planet or going down with the ship.

I keep hope always, but I can't stay blinkered to what is causing our path down the plughole as a species.

Ah well... just got to live well and not contribute to all the negative things 👍

0
0
0.000
avatar

You just earned 100 ANARCHY!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks dude.

I appreciate the tokens for the spirit of anarchy :)

0
0
0.000