Recreation of a Neanderthal woman taken from bones, tissue, etc.
Friends, looking at our world critically, I mean, really critically, it is hard not to wonder whether what we are is shown in the photographs or, when the clothes and the artifice is stripped away, what we are is more closely related to our distant ancestors.
Of course, I don’t mean to look only at our physical differences which are obvious but to look at our behaviour. What then do we mean by behaviour? Humans exhibit an enormous range of behaviours. Men behave differently to women. Children behave differently to adults, etc.
The setting we find ourselves in affects our behaviour as does our upbringing. For example, most of us don’t spit or pass wind when we are at a dinner party. Neither do we fondle our genitals or those of others (although feet under the table have been known to do mischievous things). And we don’t usually rape another person at a dinner party or carry out a murder either even if, possessed by lust or hatred, we might want to. And, usually, we don’t tell the other guests that we sexually molest our children or animals or watch child porn, etc.
But in other settings, our behaviour might well be different. Take war for example or when we are part of a mob.
In these situations, all too often, normal restraints go out the window. A soldier for example, upon finding a female enemy, might well consider raping her if no one was around. Group of soldiers have been known to carry out pack rape on both women and children. And we can’t forget the video of the American helicopter crew happily mowing down unarmed civilians yet we all know that soldiers of any nation are capable of similar behaviour.
People in mobs who are normally peaceable, have been known to bash people to death, people like gays or those from another religion. At sporting contests, supporters of one side have carried out bashings and killing of rival supporters. We know that clerics in Israel have approved of the killing of Palestinian children because they might grow up to threaten Jews. We know that armies use cluster bombs and depleted uranium and landmines despite the horrific nature of these weapons.
So, what is my point, you ask? Well, I guess what I’m trying to say is that many humans dressed up in their fancy designer jeans and splendid jackets and fancy shoes perhaps project a totally false image.
Perhaps humans collectively are hiding what they really are from others as well as themselves. Perhaps, in our genes, we carry the strong base instincts of primitive man and, resultantly, we are in a constant battle between our instincts and our sophisticated social programming.
What do you think humans are? Can we generalize? Is is better not to know what we are, to pretend we are noble and good?
And if base instincts exert too much negative influence upon us, should we look to genetic engineering to help us to modify our nature?
Genetic engineering is a really frightening idea! Who decides who will be changed and into what? Will there be different programing for different social classes like in the novel Brave New World? Will race and social status decide who gets the benefits? Will most people be engineered to be meek and obdient? What if the engineering does not turn out the way the designers planned it. What if a generation or more into the future we find out that we have created not a better human, but rather even worse monsters.
We humans are no where near wise enough to engineer a new human!
If we can manage to survive long enough we may be able to rise above our baser instincts and become truely humane human beings. If not we will destroy ourselves and most of the life on this beautiful planet with us.
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76-water Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Jeannie- “What if the engineering does not turn out the way the designers planned it.” I have just finnished reading (Slave Species of the gods) by Micheal Tellinger. He expounds on earlier work by Zecheria Stitchen. A very good read, and well written. I would definately be interested in other people’s opinion were they to learn more of this material. We humans may very well have been conned into believing a lie that perpetuates a warring nature. I hope some of the posters here might find it interesting. http://www.slavespecies.com
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76-water Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Hi again- Here is another site for more information. http://www.enkispeaks.com
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David,
I have never taken the position that humans are noble or good even though some humans sometimes do noble things or good things (when it suits their purpose). In fact, it is the reason I oppose most left/far left proposals which I think are based on ideals (unachievable by definition).
I think people care infinitely more about their own needs than the needs of others and are much more likely to be noble or good when they have more than they need for the foreseeable future or are dependend on the support of others. As such, in my view, using government to make everything “fair”, or “even”, or “right”, or “just” is a farce and therefore Communism, Marixsm, and Pure Democracy are designed to fail. Thus, I favor a Republic form of government because occasionally there are moments of balance between the “haves” and the “have nots”…
q
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Photos can be taken of the brain and the brain can be read like a book, now. They can see addictions and pain and traumas and doctors can help reprogram and treat parts of the brain! Science is not the worst to turn to in the worst of times! Other areas of our evolution have not changed so quickly. Waxed and shaved cave people in designer clothes that buy cheap goods made in China while our great Nation goes bankrupt. le sigh.
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i think i prefer the neanderthals; they wouldn’t have been watching porn, and probably not sexually abusing children. in fact, the last known neanderthals where quite upbeat, with hints of nice clothing and makeup for the women. (not that i’m advocating makeup)
we have come down a long slippery road since those times and now face a ‘civilization’ (if you can call it that) of debauchery, delinquency, religious fanatisism, dependency on unatural things, war, crime, greed, jealousy, politicians and the list goes on……………
base instincts in neanderthal times i doubt would have had the complexity that projects itself now within modern man……………….
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Jeannie, I too read the Brave New World a couple of months ago. It left me with a pretty sad feeling because so much of it has come true (a little different than the book) but true none the less.
David G, you had an article a while back about how drugged Americans are. In The Brave New World the drug provided by the Powers that be was called Soma. Americans are drugged by all sorts of different name brands as well as the illegal drugs.
And in the book, people were brainwashed with weeks or months of the same old recordings so that they could spout off a sentence without even thinking. The folks in Brave New World didn’t have any critical thinking skills. If one in a million did think differently, they were considered weird or (Lesser). Something had gone wrong with their programming!!
In my transition period to my new location I am living with my mother and sister. It feels almost true when they say “You can’t go back.” But that is part of my programming so I continue on……
But I asked them yesterday if they knew why Hemp was illegal in America and if they would be for or against legalizing it. They were against legalization because it gets you high! I explained to them that hemp doesn’t make you high because of the minute amount of THC found in the male cannibas plant. The female is the heavy THC carrier and is called marijuana. Hemp is the male of the species. They didn’t know, nor had they ever researched,
but they spouted off their training/recorded sentences just like the folks in the Brave New World.
76 Water, I read a book last year called the God’s of Eden. It sounds very similar to the book you mentioned. A slave race is involved. DNA tampering is involved. Secret societies are also involved.
I don’t know what to make of the slave race theory just yet. Advanced beings messed with our DNA to create us to mine the gold?? I just don’t know what to make of that.
David I know you posted an article not long ago about how we seem to be indoctrinated to work for a living instead of developing ourselves to our natural calling. Most of us go to work in jobs or circumstances that we don’t like in order to toil away for a pay check. Are we simply a slave race? Who put it in our minds that we are only valued as high as the dollar amount of our last pay check? David, have we already been genetically modified or do you only see this as a future event that could happen to us?
For me, I’ve noticed how humans seem to worship two things. (Not in the sense that they would ever call them their Gods)..but by their fruits….Money is God because we structure our whole lives around it and the comfort and power it can bring. Governments are our Gods because we defer to their power and allow them to rule our existence.
I feel like we have been programmed to be a slave race. We have also been programmed to fear death. I’m thinking that we need to let go of all previous programming.
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76-water Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Wow, a very insightful post. I am impressed by your ability to see beyond the obvious. I have heard recently that public schools in America are now not so much to educate but indoctrinate children from an early age just for the reasons you mentioned. Our society leaves us little choice but to work to make a (living). Thus, most of our time is not our own. I am not fully convinced either about the slave race thing, but it made for an interesting read, and the best thing for me was it took the blinders off of this religous nonsence. Oh, and by the way, do you have any suggestions for letting go of previous programming? Peace and goodwill to all.
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Kathy Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 2:19 am
76, I don’t think I have an overall theory for everybody about de-programming. I think it might be that we each have our line in the sand where we start to say “this doesn’t make sense anymore.” It’s backwards. Instead of saying “I know what’s right,” we say “I know what isn’t right.” So we start to search for other answers. For me the study goes on. My fear of death went away simply because I had to face it with my daughter being so sick and with some of my own health issues. We’ve had many discussions about why we think we are here, what we can do now, what if we don’t last until “Old age” how can we make it count for something? But this is what started a search for me and my daughter. For other people it might be that they are at the end of their rope in their career, or with their marriage, or with an estranged child.
My father used to say it’s easier to learn new information than it is to un-learn old information.
David what do you believe is the best way to de-program?
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Jeannie, we are already using genetic engineering to avoid babies being born with terrible, incurable handicaps. Using such engineering to get rid of our instincts to kill or rape surely wouldn’t be any bad thing.
Q, I don’t see much balance between the ‘haves’ and the ‘havenots’. If you look at the distribution of wealth in society and what percentage control most of it, you’ll get the picture.
Grace, we should use science to help us move towards being more peaceful and less greedy. Why not?
Coco, I don’t think that modern man is more complex, just more greedy and enticed by more temptations.
Kathy, we have been conned into becoming a slave race by the false promise that ‘More Is Better.’ That is why I advocate de-programming ourselves so that we can see more clearly and hence move towards peace.
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Man is simply a talented animal with a highly developed ability to perceive the general workings of the universe and to use such perception to change his destiny. Because of this perception we tend to experiment more than other animals. We differ little from our primate cousins in other regards (emotional states, etc.).
Buddhism has an interesting take on this called the mutual possession of the Ten Life States:
Despair, Hunger, Instinct, and Anger comprise the four lower states of which all sentient beings possess some self awareness. Add Tranquility and Satisfaction and you have in total the six paths in which higher animals tend to dwell and which require only a passive approach to life. The last four states are called the four noble paths and require an active approach to life that is the potential of humans and perhaps some higher animals. These last four states are Learning, Self-Realization, Compassion, and Enlightenment. Each state contains the potential for any of the others to emerge at any time, thus the mutual possession idea. For more detail google “Mutual Possession of Ten Worlds in Buddhism” or just “Tens Worlds in Buddhism”.
Whether we have the wisdom to avoid extinction caused by our own technology is an open question.
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David G Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 3:28 am
I think the Buddhist philosophy has much to recommend it, Casamurphy. I find it hard to accept that man is a ‘talented’ animal if the current state of our world is anything to go by!
Thanks for calling by.
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Casamurphy Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 4:10 am
My take on the “talented animal” phrase is to emphasize that we are nothing special compared to animals … just animals with some talents that many other animals don’t have. And like all animals, we will tend to push our environment’s carrying capacity as far as it will go until disease and predation keeps us in check. For good and bad we have tested those limits and as I stated above…whether we have the wisdom to avoid extinction caused by our own technology is an open question.
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David G Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Casamurphy, when humans have nukes sitting in their armory, extinction become a real possibility.
The Cuban crisis came close and America is still riding roughshod over many nations and threatening to nuke Iran.
Cheers.
The only way to de-program ourselves is to question every single belief that we hold. For example, let’s start with the idea that it’s patriotic to die for one’s country. If we look at America’s warmongering since WW2 finished, we can seriously question this belief.
We can look at all the wars and all the deaths and ask ourselves: what have they achieved? Is the world a safer place because of these wars? Are we any closer to peace as a result of them? Have millions of innocent people died in vain? Who has profited from these wars? What is America’s overall plan behind its creation of endless wars? Have all the American war dead died in vain? Have they been used as cannon fodder by the politicians and the wealthy? Is patriotism being used by a handful of powerful people to feather their own nest while they keep their own children safe? If people bothered to ask then answer these questions they might change their ideas about patriotism.
Similarly, what about beliefs like: God is on our side, we were meant to lead the world, capitalism is a wonderful economic system, materialism brings happiness, people of different skin colour to ours are inferior, God watches us all the time, God made the world, etc.
Truth will set you free!
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