Evolution is real. But that's not the topic of this entry. It affects us as human beings. Our actions are, for a very large part, due to our evolution, which drives our genes.
Pets:
They have larger head to body ratio. Symmetrical faces. Etc. That makes them "cute" because it resembled a human baby. Gotta love how evolutionary traits end up applying to somethings decidedly non-evolutionary in nature. We domesticate wolves into little barkers. We dress them up and in extreme cases even take them to competitions, where they become an extension of a person's status, not even a lovable pet anymore. Pet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Socializing:
Facebook is big. It taps into our need to socialize. Most people on the planet at social people. Even the not-as-social people can talk on Facebook without the intimidation of real-life social encounters. Facebook has more users than America has people.
Religion:
Worse out of all of them: Billions of people fall victim to this, a simple byproduct of our need to observe patterns. That is a tool for survival in ye' old days. Suppose there are two types of possible errors in pattern seeking.
Type 1 - See false positive
Type 2 - Don't see any pattern even if there is one
You're walking along the African land, and you hear a rustle. Type 1 error - if it was a false positive, no enemies, all you did was waste 5 seconds of your time. Type 2, you're probably dead.
"Be Yourself"
How are you going to do that when clearly you are the product of millions of years of evolution? Forget that. What you do, how do you, what you like are all consequences of your surroundings. While a smile is universally recognized, what is "disgusting" as food isn't always agreed upon. For example: Eggs. Who came up with the idea of eating reproductive products from chickens? Or drinking the milk of a cow. WTF? How about, eating spiders or frogs? Quite liked in some places.
Try as you might to "be yourself", you can't. Hell, you're always yourself. But don't act like you have total control over what you like and don't like. You have a sex drive? That's what I thought.
On the flip side, a few things we think are natural and considered as old and good values are... not so old.
Monogamy:
Guys are hard-wired to fuck as many girls as they can, to spread on their genes.
Family Values:
The idea of a mother and father, the "traditional" mother staying home, dad working, is relatively new. For USA people, this is mostly from 20th century after the World Wars.
What about socializing? Not everybody is an extrovert. Yeah. We need some diversity. But today, parents act like a social kid is a healthy kid. And introverted kid is... not normal.First, let's differentiate between introverts and shy people. Introverts prefer less stimulation. Shy people avoid social situations out of fear. What do we do to kids when young? Expose them to endless stimulation. The kid that doesn't talk is worried about.
Yet, we need introverted people. Those are the ones that think quietly and get revelations. Did Newton invent Calculus after chatting with people from Facebook? No. He went into isolation.
Yet, we are victims. We follow the one with the most charisma, not always the one with the best ideas.ial people tend to have their vision already set out, and might not be as willing to change their vision in accordance to the suggestions given.
Western society prefers the man of action rather than the man of contemplation. Self help books used to be 'character, the most important thing'. Now they are 'how to get most friends and manipulate people'.
Trust
Ever had a friend that is a screwup in their life yet you trust them? Yet you could have another person that always does that they've said they would so far, and not trust them. What we need are common beliefs. When we meet people that believe what we believe, we are more willing to experiement and gone where nobody has before, because the people we trust will protect us if needed. Our survival depends on it.
You can't fight a tiger alone. You need a group you trust. The goal isn't to fix your weakness, it is to amplify your strengths so people can do what you can't do. But it's not based on skills and the application of those skills, it's what you believe. Common values.
Say you're from LA and you go to New York. Everything is new and foreign. You hear a guy talk with LA accent. Your turn around, find out you are both from LA. BOOM. You're both friends. Say you meet the same guy from LA. Would you be friends? Hell no.
Hell, your in the French metro. You hear English. Turn around. Ask him where he's from. New York. HEY! I'm from LA! And you're best friends. You're not even from the same state. Are you friends with all the people in New York?
When you are in an unfamiliar enviroemnt, who have different values, you look for those who may share some of your values, and you start to form a bond because they understand your background.
It's not specific differences in opinion. That's diversity and advantages to problem solving. But we both understand our childhoods, we had the same type of issues. There was once a show, Deadliest Catch, or fishermen because it was a very dangerous job. Two boats. Camera caught a random boat from a competing company. Waves came over, a guy fell over. The fishermen on this boat got out, saved that guy. Why? They are not on the same team. Because at the end of the day, they are all fishermen. They understand tyhe risks and they all took it. They have similar values. They might not have the same religious views or particular pokitical views. But they are all fishermen.
If you're on the French Metro again, the guy from New York says 'You gotta try this one restaraunt here..." you're gonna trust him and go. If you're in LA, some random guy tells you to go to this one restaraunt, you're going to think he's a crackpot. The information given presented about either resaraunt is the same. That's the thing: With trust, you don't "NEED" all the information.
Finding who to trust was important to our survival. We know how to do it. You can go outside to look for people you like and trust. You're going to instinctively talk to them. Either you will have a "good" opinion or you won't. It may take a little while, or a long while. But we know how to do it. It's called making friends. You're the only one that had the gut feeling. Every single thing a person does or says is a symbol of who they are, and we look for those symbols to find those who believe what we believe. Our survival depends on it.
So Tiger Woods. He lied. He told us what he wanted us to hear. He broke our trust. He could've said he liked fucking random chicks from day one, and it wouldn't have been bad at all. But he lies. He seemingly had one set of values, and changed them. Good luck getting trust from people again.
People to do what they believe, not what they think other people want them to believe. If you ask your friends, how do you want me to act and dress so you'll like me more, they'll think you're crazy. Just BE YOURSELF. That's why I like you. I like YOUR values. Change your values based on what others want... the word there is 'inauthentic'. Fake. Untrustworthy.
Apple. Under the leadership of Jobs, Apple rose to new heights. Did Apple ask what you want? No. They told you what you wanted. Those who believe in Apple's vision bought Apple's products and spreaded their recommendation. The values are consistent,.
It's equally as ridiculous for a company to ask how they should run their business. Do what you believe. Companies should hire those who believe what they believe. What you push out should show who you are.
Do people get tattoos of Harley's because it looks cool? No, it's a symbol of who they are. Ever seen a person put a sticker of the Apple logo of their Mac? Ever even seen a dirty Mac? NO. Those objects mean more than just the object. It's a statement of who you are.
Fullfilment:
Why are people not happy in their jobs? It's not the pay or their benefits. There are rich, sad people. It's because nobody helps others anymore. When you donate money to a poor guy, you feel good. You're not donating. Your buying that feeling. It's a transaction.
True generosity requires doing something for others, expecting NOTHING in return. Short of that is MANIPULATION.
I did something for him, why won't he do something for me? It's not an equation. It's nature. It feels good. We do it. When we are surrounds by those we trust and hae common values with, our species go up in progress.
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