Survival of the Fittest so Women Rule - Friendship as Adaptation - Biological Determinism
I have the good fortune of being in a college town. This week we had this lecture (summary below) as part of a larger series that goes on through Dec.
The questions this brings up are:
1.) Biological determinism? Is man just an animal? If he is just a product of his genes and biology then what stops us from moving toward nihilistic ideas like eugenic management of society?
2.) Why are the universities so determined to prove that we can be good without God? What is their purpose?
The ancient philosophers were not good without their gods, why do we think we will be? Did the Enlightenment give man hope and light in the short term, only to take it away in the long term, as the ideas matured to their conclusion?
3.) What value does man add to his existence by his will? And how is that will to stand if we have decided that there is no firm foundation?
We children of postmoderns try to construct our own reality and morality but does the center hold? Education has seemed to forget that even Socrates has his daemon, but today there is no virtue other than "to thine own self be true" - we forget that Polonius was a fool.
4.) If women are the natural communicators and relationship builders, and relationships are more rare in modern society and need to be rebuilt, and the world is changing to modes of communication that women are more naturally "wired" for (i.e. written/verbal language communication) ...
What will happen to men as the Internet and traditionally female communication styles become more dominant? Will men be relegated to irrelevancy? Will we change? If we do change, what will we lose? What will humanity lose? Can we change? (Is it even true that men are less language oriented than women?)
Fall 2012 Good Behavior, Bad Behavior: Molecules to Morality
Public Lecture: What are Friends for? The Adaptive Values of Social Bonds
Joan SilkJoan Silk, Arizona State University
When: Thursday, Nov 15 @ 5:30 PM
Where: Indiana Memorial Union Whittenberger Auditorium
Partnering organizations: Center for Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, College of Arts and Science - Themester, Cognitive Science ProgramOrganizers: Michael Muehlenbein and Kevin Hunt
Part of the Primate Behavior Speaker Series
Abstract: Group living has evolved in many animal taxa, but humans and other primates are unusual because individuals establish close and lasting social bonds with other members of their groups. Such bonds are particularly pronounced among females in species like baboons, in which females’ social lives revolve around a tight core of close associates, who are mainly close maternal relatives. Data derived from long-term studies of female baboons at several sites in Africa suggest that social bonds help females cope more effectively with the stresses of everyday life. In addition, females that have close and stable social bonds reproduce more successfully and live longer than others. These findings closely parallel evidence that social ties have positive effects on physical and mental health in humans. As with baboons, the strength and quality of these bonds are more important than their number. Although we are not yet certain whether the mechanisms that underlie these effects in humans and other primates are the same, it seems likely that the capacity and motivation to establish and nurture close social relationships with others have been under strong selective pressure in the primate lineage for many millions of years.
