http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/26/morality/the-evolution-of-morality-and-innate-human-behavior/ The world as I see it Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:54:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/26/morality/the-evolution-of-morality-and-innate-human-behavior/comment-page-1/#comment-645 admin0 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:26:52 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1108#comment-645 I have still never seen a refutation of Dart's hypothesis, mentioned in Ardrey's "African Genesis," that Australopithecines in southern Africa were hunters, based on statistical analysis of bone remains. Montagu, et.al., couldn't even discuss the "hunting hypothesis" without accusing its proponents of some right wing political sin, even long after fire-hardened spears had been found at Homo Erectus sites. We've made astounding progress since Ardrey's day, with neuroscientists leading the way, and the psychologists and and sociologists dragged along kicking and screaming in their dust. I am confident that eventually we will be able to demonstrate the association of innate behavioral traits with a hunting lifestyle down to the last molecule in the brain, if no one gets in their way. A decade after we do, there will probably still be programs on Public TV "proving" that we were pure scavengers. I have still never seen a refutation of Dart’s hypothesis, mentioned in Ardrey’s “African Genesis,” that Australopithecines in southern Africa were hunters, based on statistical analysis of bone remains. Montagu, et.al., couldn’t even discuss the “hunting hypothesis” without accusing its proponents of some right wing political sin, even long after fire-hardened spears had been found at Homo Erectus sites. We’ve made astounding progress since Ardrey’s day, with neuroscientists leading the way, and the psychologists and and sociologists dragged along kicking and screaming in their dust. I am confident that eventually we will be able to demonstrate the association of innate behavioral traits with a hunting lifestyle down to the last molecule in the brain, if no one gets in their way. A decade after we do, there will probably still be programs on Public TV “proving” that we were pure scavengers.

]]> http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/26/morality/the-evolution-of-morality-and-innate-human-behavior/comment-page-1/#comment-644 Jim Hetherington Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:18:55 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1108#comment-644 The Archaeology beards with their patched-elbow jackets just don't want to admit that man is a predator whose natural instinct is to kill with a weapon. How could they earn a living at liberal arts colleges if they were compelled to replace "tool-making" with "weapon development". They share the same building with the Sociology and Psychology departments, whose methodology mimics Chemistry and Biology, but can never match the natural sciences in scientific exactitude. There is no equivalent in the pseudo-sciences for water freezes at 32 degrees, or man evolved by enlarging his brain with protein. Robert Ardrey emphasized Raymond Dart’s work in the field. Dart had to live through a 40-year period before Piltdown Man was repudiated as a fraud, and the educated world thought Man originated in Asia. He coined Australopithecine, but endured derision as the creator of the “Killer Ape Theory.” Amity-Enmity is almost a misnomer because the critics ignore the amity that enables the enmity between groups. I have Time-Life Books’ The First Man from 1973, complete with cute photo-illustrations of European-looking people, that skirts the fundamental issue and is indicative of the angst of the collective social studies community, notably Ashley Montagu. Was a bowl and spoon ever found that predates the club or sharpened rock? If the seminal moment when ape became man, the “I think, therefore I am” instant depicted by Stanley Kubrick in 2001 , happened some other way, I am anxious to hear it. Freud and his best friend married each other's sister and the two couples spent most of their social time together. After we rethink the carbon-based nature of man we can rethink the Oedipus complex because the “scientific” results were tainted. The Archaeology beards with their patched-elbow jackets just don’t want to admit that man is a predator whose natural instinct is to kill with a weapon. How could they earn a living at liberal arts colleges if they were compelled to replace “tool-making” with “weapon development”.
They share the same building with the Sociology and Psychology departments, whose methodology mimics Chemistry and Biology, but can never match the natural sciences in scientific exactitude. There is no equivalent in the pseudo-sciences for water freezes at 32 degrees, or man evolved by enlarging his brain with protein.
Robert Ardrey emphasized Raymond Dart’s work in the field. Dart had to live through a 40-year period before Piltdown Man was repudiated as a fraud, and the educated world thought Man originated in Asia. He coined Australopithecine, but endured derision as the creator of the “Killer Ape Theory.” Amity-Enmity is almost a misnomer because the critics ignore the amity that enables the enmity between groups.
I have Time-Life Books’ The First Man from 1973, complete with cute photo-illustrations of European-looking people, that skirts the fundamental issue and is indicative of the angst of the collective social studies community, notably Ashley Montagu. Was a bowl and spoon ever found that predates the club or sharpened rock?
If the seminal moment when ape became man, the “I think, therefore I am” instant depicted by Stanley Kubrick in 2001 , happened some other way, I am anxious to hear it.
Freud and his best friend married each other’s sister and the two couples spent most of their social time together. After we rethink the carbon-based nature of man we can rethink the Oedipus complex because the “scientific” results were tainted.

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