Intellect overcomes Instinct

[ratcatcher55]

I would say adapt.

[Timothy]

I would say adapt.

Evolve;

Biology. to develop by a process of evolution to a different adaptive state or condition: The human species evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal.

Isn't it like apples and apples?  Evolution is the process of adapting to changing conditions over time.

Just a thought!

[ratcatcher55]

Timothy,

Species evolve, individuals adapt.

That's about all I remember form my BS in Biology

[ratcatcher55]

Timothy,

Species evolve, individuals adapt.

That's about all I remember form my BS in Biology

Not to be snarky let me explain.

If your behavior or physical traits will be increase your chance of survival and passing on the trait or genes at a greater rate than others, the species will change or evolve.

[Timothy]

Not to be snarky let me explain.

If your behavior or physical traits will be increase your chance of survival and passing on the trait or genes at a greater rate than others, the species will change or evolve.

I'll buy that!  I hope this question doesn't sound too silly...

So how, over the millenia, do we explain the lessening of hair on primative man.  Was it not an evolutionary event, adapting to the warming climate after the last ice age?  Only 12K years ago, we were a pretty gruesome species...prior to that, only the paleontologist can imagine what we looked like based on fossil record. 

thanks

[Sponsor]

[ratcatcher55]

SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess)

Having learned to use fire and wear clothing, having more hair than the other guy was a not a trait that enhanced survival to breeding age.

IF females found males with less hair more attractive to mate with, then less fuzzy males would pass their genes along at a greater rate ove time.
IF males found females with less body hair more attractive to mate with, the same thing would occur.

I don't know we are not all that less hairy than we were 12,000 years ago. Wearing cloths rubs alot of hair off and we groom alot more.
Hollywood movies and artist renderings are just what folks think humans looked like. Using clay models of skulls it would appear  Neanderthal does not look all that different than modern man.

[scott.ballard]

Thank you for the replies!!!

Your opinions and thoughts have given me some great new insights.

I will be unable to tend this thread properly due to work travel requirements.  Please don't feel I am ignoring it, or you.

I sincerely appreciate your input.

Stay Safe,

[DrNo]

We train to be able to react without thinking. I've read that it takes from 3,000 to 7,000 repetitions to make a response seem "instinctive." Such learned behavior can feel like it is instinctive (i.e., non-reflective), but it can only be passed on through learning and culture, not genes. (That was Lamarck's mistake.)

I just finished listening to episode 153, and was impressed with the arguments about "chaos," "gates," and dojos. Thank you Michael!

I very much like the idea of incorporating or "training around" natural reflexive actions (e.g., the startle response), because it slows us down and messes us up when we try to train against natural reactions (a la Rob Pincus).

Patrick

[fightingquaker13]

Intellect can, will and must overide instinct if we are to evolve. Lets forget shooting or crisis management. Lets just look at postings on this board. I see a lot of opinions I strongly disagree with (many because of something provacative I posted, but hey "He started it" ). While I argue against them (with the occasional bit of snark ), you'll not find a post of mine where I responded in real anger even if I was directly and profanley insulted. This isn't because I am a paragon of virtue or a kind hearted soul. In fact, temperment wise, I think that Tom and I were seperated at birth. The difference is years of academic training that tells you to put emotions aside, never pre-judge a case and try to present a disspasionate argument while ignoring the static. Any lawyer will have been trained the same way.. The same is true of doctors or EMTs. They don't see a bleeding, suffering human in great pain in front of them. They see a series of problems that need to b solved in order to fix the situation. I think thatthe fact that we can put our baser instincts (lust, greed, anger, revenge etc) aside is proof that intellect can, though not infallibly, overcome instinct.
FQ13

[Solus]

Emotion and Instinct are the driving force, Intellect is the Driver