Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, Doan huu Phong wrote: >We in fact are not like the rest of the animals. >I grew up in a war, and I cannot think of another >species that commits the atrocities that we homos do. >but no need to feel bad about it. We are what we are. > >- - Phong Phong, Using our military technology we humans have inflicted atrocities on ourselves to a far greater degree than animals have on each other but rest assured that many animal species do engage in combat. I'm guessing now but it seems that our social structure allows us to engage in war. Among the animal species that commit warfare, all are social species. The animals which spend the majority of their adult lives as solitary creatures, such as the Mountain Lion in North America, are very careful to avoid battle even though they may be well equipped for combat. The reason is that an injury to a solitary individual is almost certainly fatal. A solitary animal has no friends or "team mates" and thus if it's injured it can neither feed nor defend itself, while an injured social animal can rely on other members of the pack for food and defence while its injuries heal. Like it or not it's what we are and the more social "safety nets" we develop the fewer inhibitions keeping us from combat we'll have. We're not so different from animals after all. I'll put my asbestos suit on now. Doug Herr Sacramento