The Human Instinct “Package” is very complex and has evolved to handle virtually every type of situation primitive man was likely to see in nature. This instinct package allowed humans to go from a population as small as maybe as few as 150 individuals to become masters of this planet. This success was only partially due to the human instinct package, the superior human intelligence was also a key factor.
Dragon Tamers is dedicated to the elimination of human misery. Most of human misery in our modern world is a result of the actions of humans. Since we have already discussed that human actions are mostly driven by human instinct, it follows that most human misery is a result of instinct driven actions; a pretty depressing thought. Yet as we just discussed, human instinct has been wildly successful for the human race over all.
See human instinct by itself is not the direct cause of human misery, but rather as strange as this may seem it is our very success that has caused everything to be thrown out of balance. See humanity evolved under some very harsh conditions. Near starvation, predators, rival herds, changing environments, etc. all made life so very challenging. With humanity, evolution added a superior intellect to execute these instincts evolved and fine-tuned to handle a hostile world. The perfect environmental conditions for humanity would be one where humans faced a constant external threat that was dangerous enough, and powerful enough to cause a constant threat to our survival. Unfortunately, the only such threat could only come from humanity, unless we happen to meet a hostile alien race. So what do you suppose happens when a creature shaped by evolution to handle some of the worst conditions this earth ever seen is enhanced with superior intelligence? We all know because we see it every day, that creature not only survives, it thrives. But at a price.
Since the conditions that humanity evolved in no longer exist, what does this mean for humanity? The short answer is, misery. The issue is humanity great power and success has come upon us rather suddenly in terms of evolutionary timelines. In a way you can say that humans really do not have proper instincts to deal with long term success and security. Certain human instinctive reactions display themselves only under conditions of perceived security and success. Ironically these behaviors are not as Hollywood writers always imagined they would be, but more like the opposite.
Let us examine the Nobility Instinct for a moment as a common example. As we discussed, the Nobility instinct drives folks to obtain a place as near the center of the circle of power as possible. If one can actually sit in the center of the inner circle, all the better. However during evolution, humanity rarely faced very long periods of time of great success and security. What success was achieved was constantly under threat from external sources, which would naturally off set the Nobility Instinct with the Community Instinct. Over the last few 50 thousand years or so, humans have been a very powerful creature that has seen prolonged periods of success and security. Each time of great success, we have seen outrageous abuses from the inner circle on those they held power over. In fact every time humanity was climbing the ladder of civilization; it has always been the depravity and abuses of the inner circle that has caused the collapse of the very thing they ruled. Without a threat to stimulate the companion community instinct, the nobility who embraced their instinctive drives, soon became lost in the instinctive drive for power.
Humans became masters of this world and do not currently face any serious threat on earth from anything except other humans. The only things left in nature that could cause the extermination of mankind would be the emergence of a new disease, and disaster from space like an asteroid strike, or maybe the eruption of a super-volcano. In all three of these cases, I would put even money that humanity would still survive. The problem is our own success, left unchallenged, causes humans to follow as path of self-destruction.
How did such a situation come to pass? See evolution is mindless, and as such cannot foresee consequences. It can only follow genetic law and the survival of a species is based solely on its ability to adapt to new and changing conditions. Humanity evolved under harsh conditions that because of the success of mankind, no longer exist for mankind. Since these changes occurred far too rapidly for evolution to change humanity, humanity is in danger of becoming extinct by its own hand. As the song goes – we weren’t built for comfort, we were built for speed. Humanities greatest threat to its survival is humankind. This is not news to the earth, which has a history filled with example after example of extinct species that could not adapt fast enough to the very conditions it created.
What is different with humanity then other self-exterminating species in the earth’s history is in fact our intelligence. Unlike microscopic bacteria that changed the very chemical composition of the atmosphere, humanity has a choice in its actions. We do not need to be a slave to our instincts, we do not need to harm other humans and damage the environment, and we can see the wisdom of community and cooperation even in time of plenty. This of course is the message that Dragon Tamers has been created to deliver.
Humanity can learn to accept the truth of whom and what we are. Once we accept the PIFTB Cycle as a real factor in our lives, we can start to use reason, rather than instinct and feelings to start making choices in our lives. We can master the Technics of detachment and find true freedom and power. However if we instead chose to embrace our instinctive drives and allow chemistry to do our thinking for us, we will see the horror of events like the holocaust and the science of eugenics once again become a part of the human future.
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