Current Events — HabitableZone

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Survival instincts
Larry J — (archived)

Picture early humans struggling to survive in the environment. They didn't have the sharpest vision compared to the other predators, nor did they have the best sense of smell or hearing. They weren't the strongest creatures on the block, either. By no means were they at the top of the food chain. How did they survive the threats of starvation, the elements, and wild animals? Primarily, they survived because they were smarter, because they learned to use weapons to overcome their weaknesses, and because their instinct for survival. They certainly weren't sitting around contemplating their navel and at one with nature. They also learned how to cooperate with one another, at least in small groups. Those groups appear to have clashed with one another in competition for resources, though. It appears war predates history by a considerable margin.

All these years later, humans are still at heart the same creatures who learned to survive in those harsh days when people's lives were "nasty, brutish, and short." Today, most of our lives are so far removed from the actual necessity of survival that we can afford to contemplate abstract notions such as a peaceful world or economic theories. However, put any of us out in the true wilderness and most of us would be dead within a week or two, either from starvation, disease, or eaten by parasites or animals. We'd be back at early man's level of the food chain. Only the natives like the African Bushmen who've spent a lifetime learning to survive in those conditions would last for very long.

We can hope for and work for a better world, but ignoring human nature is folly.

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