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ferago2
gnubie
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Blank slate humanity
#3747153 - 02/07/05 06:52 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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This is something a little esoteric and bizarre that I've been thinking about lately, but there are some interesting discussions that it could create.
How much of everything that defines human society today is a product of social evolution, and what amounts to racial memory? Even the most different cultures around today all had the common origin in Africa, and no doubt there are conventions, norms, and types of world view that were created there and taken with humans as they spread across the globe.
If, somehow, a group of humans were raised without the influence of any culture at all, perhaps from infancy, in some sort of "garden of eden" enviroment, how much of everything that we see as "human" would remain the same? Without even the dimmest memory of anything from previous generations, what would remain? Would the new, second human culture have concepts of love, or religion, or language as we understand it? Would they experience the same range of emotions, or view the world in the same ego centric way we do? Would their sense of humour be anything like ours, or would it even exist?
I'm not sure if I can effectively communicate the scale of what I'm saying here, but does anyone have any thoughts? How much of our nature is defined by all of the invisible conventions that are our millenia old heritage, from gender roles to philosophy to language to social conventions? Are any of these things necessarily traits of humanity, or could a "blank slate" human race socially evolve into an entirely different animal, socially, culturually, linguistically, religiously and intellectually speaking?
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: ferago2]
#3747184 - 02/07/05 07:00 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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might be irrelevantly, but i came to think of the isolated tribes 'found' deep in the rain forest and such. not sure whats being asked here though, if anything.. so. that's that.
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ferago2
gnubie
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: Gomp]
#3747217 - 02/07/05 07:06 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yes, but I feel like even those isolated tribes share a common heritage with all other currently existing humans. After all, there was some level of human culture and thought that existed when humanity dispersed from Africa, so while isolated tribes have gone in their own directions for thousands of years, they still share that same origin. A blank slate would mean that the humans would share _none_ of those assumptions, and I'm curious as to how that would affect them. Would they have anything in common with us besides physical appearance and DNA? I don't know.
Here's a simple example... go back far enough in any culture's history, and you'll find goddesses associated with feminity, fertility, and the moon, owing to the 28 day lunar cycle that goes along with the menstral cycle, as well as, presumably, some original moon goddess or moon reverence that was common to the proto civilized African humans. In the absence of the moon, and this woman/fertility/moon relationship, how would religion and gender roles develop? Now, this is only one relationship that has been with every culture for thousands of years... what if not this one relationship, but every similar thing, was gone? What would the resulting humanity look like once it reached our own current level of societal development? Remember how maliable the human psyche is, with feral children who never stop believing themselves to be dogs as one example.
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: ferago2]
#3747351 - 02/07/05 07:35 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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would they then even know how to I.e. eat?
asking just in case I'm missing something obvious
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ferago2
gnubie
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: Gomp]
#3747361 - 02/07/05 07:37 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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Well, I sort of have to assume that they survive long enough to reproduce and form a society and so on... maybe start will 1000000 infants... some will make it ;p
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faslimy
Dead Man
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: ferago2]
#3747369 - 02/07/05 07:40 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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Human babies are completely useless there is no way they could survive on their own
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ferago2
gnubie
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: faslimy]
#3747403 - 02/07/05 07:49 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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That isn't really the point. I'm basically just saying what if society started over, altogether, and even basic assumptions like religion, or love, or ego, weren't passed down from a previous generation. The specifics of how it would work aren't really relevant, and it's all speculative anyhow.
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faslimy
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: ferago2]
#3747474 - 02/07/05 08:07 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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I think it illistrates the point that we would die without the nurturing (programming) cycle of generations.
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: faslimy]
#3747490 - 02/07/05 08:12 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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..
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Zekebomb
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: faslimy]
#3747770 - 02/07/05 08:54 PM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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we would die without the nurturing (programming) cycle of generations.
I never caught that before, the nurturing = programming thing.
basically, isn't the question of this thread Nature vs Nurture?
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Psychoactive1984
PositiveCynicist
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Re: Blank slate humanity [Re: Zekebomb]
#3749281 - 02/08/05 01:04 AM (19 years, 1 month ago) |
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We'd just develop new archaic definitions of the world... rinse/wash/repeat, do some research on the common fundamentals of most religions. All the same beliefs, just dressed differently.
-------------------- "Their is one overriding question that concerns us all: How can we get out of the fatal groove we are in, the one that is leading towards the brink?" Albert Szent-Gyorgyi "We may not be capable of eradicating the corruption of reason, but we must nevertheless counter it at every instance and with every means." Dan Agin "Politics is the best religion and politicians are the worst followers." -It's ok to trip as long as you don't fall. -Substance over Style. -Common sense is uncommon.
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