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Why We Dominate the Earth

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Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#11

Post by gnulinux »

dustinmoris wrote: post #5

Sapiens is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand the fabrics of humanity. It's one of my most favourite books and reading it definitely has opened up my eyes to the world. An example: Humans are the "creators of the world", the most dominant species on the planet and at the top of the food chain by a long distance and yet we are the most jumpy/scary species of all. If a tiny spider would crawl up the…

>If a tiny spider would crawl up the leg of a lion they wouldn't give a bit of a shit. A lion would remain calm, knowing that the spider cannot do anything and it wouldn't even bother to entertain the spider for a split second.

> However if the same tiny spider would crawl up the leg of a human there's a real chance that this person would start jumping up and down, perhaps trying to kill the spider or maybe even rush out of the room until the spider is gone.

I think there is a chance this might be a bad comparison. Do non-human primates not fear spiders?

Some interesting read:

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/cd/12_1/Ohman....

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-07628-001

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-05872-001

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#12

Post by krapp »

bpizzi wrote: post #7
devmunchies wrote: post #3

I saw an interesting, related theory in an ecology book I read recently. Most native peoples were very in tune withe the earth (Pagan Europe, Native American tribes, Hindu India, Tribal Africa, Aboriginal Australia, etc). The rise of Abrahamic religion, with man as the most important creature on the planet and everything on earth created for man, is a factor for why we "dominate" the earth.

Or maybe the starting point is that sapiens' DNA really is shaped for ruling. That sapiens mostly preferred 'Abrahamic religion' to others is then a consequence to this starting point.

>That sapiens mostly preferred 'Abrahamic religion' to others is then a consequence to this starting point.

Sapiens didn't mostly prefer Abrahamic religion. Judaism didn't proselytize as far as I'm aware, and Christianity and Islam converted many cultures and people by force (although not exclusively.)

And you're not considering the widespread preference for Buddhist and animist religions, which over time likely equal if not surpass the Abrahamic faiths... although to be fair those also sometimes were spread by force as well.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#13

Post by jimmy1 »

dustinmoris wrote: post #5

Sapiens is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand the fabrics of humanity. It's one of my most favourite books and reading it definitely has opened up my eyes to the world. An example: Humans are the "creators of the world", the most dominant species on the planet and at the top of the food chain by a long distance and yet we are the most jumpy/scary species of all. If a tiny spider would crawl up the…

A lion has tougher skin than a human. But the primary difference is knowledge. We as humans know that some small tiny spiders are warrant no amount of fear but some, like the brown recluse, can absolutely mess your day up. A small brown spider is a small brown spider to a lion. On a more higher level, we are aware of our mortality, and this colors our entire experience of almost everything in life, from the biggest things to the littlest things like spiders, which is why all the world's faiths all have something to say about death. I am not sure the lion sits and contemplates his mortality.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#14

Post by adrianN »

dustinmoris wrote: post #5

Sapiens is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand the fabrics of humanity. It's one of my most favourite books and reading it definitely has opened up my eyes to the world. An example: Humans are the "creators of the world", the most dominant species on the planet and at the top of the food chain by a long distance and yet we are the most jumpy/scary species of all. If a tiny spider would crawl up the…

Cats are startled by cucumbers. My cat sometimes gets spooked for no apparent reason at all.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#15

Post by simplify »

devmunchies wrote: post #10
mtts wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Chinese don't follow an Abrahamic religion and yet they've built huge urban empires. It's unlikely this is a factor.

It could be a factor everywhere else I mentioned, though. This is a logical fallacy.

Which fallacy? I don't understand.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#17

Post by [deleted] »

hammock wrote: post #4
lordnacho wrote: post #2

> Surprisingly, it’s not our shared language or even our ability to dominate other species that defines us but rather, our shared fictions. I read his book where he talks about this. It makes some sense: you can operate at varied scales if you have shared fictions. When you meet a complete stranger, you're both members of the human race, sharing a desire for a better future. Meet a fellow countryman, and there are so…

That night in Istanbul was a fiction? Isn't that just a shared story?

[deleted]

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#18

Post by devmunchies »

simplify wrote: post #15
devmunchies wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be a factor everywhere else I mentioned, though. This is a logical fallacy.

Which fallacy? I don't understand.

Person A got cancer from smoking, but person B got cancer from exposure to chemicals so smoking likely doesn't cause cancer. Its the same argument.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#19

Post by yukonbound »

devmunchies wrote: post #10
mtts wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Chinese don't follow an Abrahamic religion and yet they've built huge urban empires. It's unlikely this is a factor.

It could be a factor everywhere else I mentioned, though. This is a logical fallacy.

Abrahamic Religions arrived perhaps too recently. The records we have of ancient civilizations show that they successfully dominated their environments already, and certainly accomplished amazing things.

Re: Why We Dominate the Earth

#20

Post by learc83 »

lordnacho wrote: post #2

> Surprisingly, it’s not our shared language or even our ability to dominate other species that defines us but rather, our shared fictions. I read his book where he talks about this. It makes some sense: you can operate at varied scales if you have shared fictions. When you meet a complete stranger, you're both members of the human race, sharing a desire for a better future. Meet a fellow countryman, and there are so…

There was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that explored a similar concept.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok

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