Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA17516 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:48:22 +0100 Message-ID: <002d01c1f065$14540ba0$5e2ffea9@oemcomputer> From: "Philip Jonkers" <philipjonkers@prodigy.net> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <LAW2-F12681IfpT8vWy00005f9e@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Red, tooth and claw (was media and violence) Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 09:35:44 -0700 Organization: Prodigy Internet Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Vincent:
> > By the by, there was a piece I haven't read yet, that Robin F (where
> >he gone?) should read, about a theory that the universe is nothing but
> >information, and "reality" is some kind of holographic illusion. My
brain
> >was tired on Friday when I bought the magazine (and I was a bit miffed
they
> >hadn't published my letter), so if that sounds weird, I can't explain it
> >further at the moment.
Grant:
> I think it would be fair to say our ancestors were both predator and prey
> rather than just one or the other.
Regarding the predator role. We have the digestive tract to both digest
vegetables
and meat. This suggests that we at least have some inherent hunting
tradition
(I don't think we literally had the stomach to scavenge). I can imagine that
in a local environment where there is little vegetable food available, for
instance during
the ice ages, good old Fred & Barney Flintstone put together meat-hunting
prawls in order
to survive. In regions or periods where fruits and seeds abound why putting
your frail body
on the line by trying set out and try to kill dangerous animals? Of course,
predating on
non-predatory prey like rodents was probably an often sought after ideal.
Regarding the prey role. Given our petty physiques we individually don't
really stand
much stance against a hungry bear or lion etc.. So indeed it seems
reasonable that
we also served as prey ourselves.
But `together we stand...' and we make/made a formidable social predator
(as perhaps is reflected in our `passion' for warfare). I think the
collective brain quickly made up
for lack or loss of physical power and made us predators rather than prey.
Indeed I think that
the inescapable increase of the metabolically greedy brain, due to the birth
of human culture,
had to be accompanied by a decrease in physical strength to suppress energy
costs.
Phil.
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