Instinct, Learned Behavior, and Evolution -
"...*Response: Darwinism is the father of them all, but
the link between evolution and the concept of
"accidental" or "random" creation is closely
linked to it.
Which ultimately leads to reducing the human race to animal
status, lending false credence to the idea that we are incapable
of, or need not, control our own
behavior toward one another. How can an animal be immoral? If
there is no one to set a standard, we are accountable to no one.
..."
So, the soul reason why you can not accept evolution is because
you think it makes you no better than an animal. I feel sorry for
you that your are so
arrogant and so bewildered by anthropocentrism rooted in your
Judeo-Chrsitian upgringing. If that is the way you choose to
interpret things, that is your
own problem, but whether or not you like that outcome, the fact
is, that is how it happened, and physiologically you are no
different from any other animal,
in context. However, humans are different in one major aspect,
they are conscious. It is the single most important concept to
humanity, and the single most
difficult term to accurately define. Darwin never suggested, not
ever implied, that humans are incapable of controlling their
behavior, in fact, evolution
suggests the exact opposite, which you would know had you
actually had any comprehension of evolution whatsoever. As you
trace the development of
organisms, and later humans, up the tree of complexity (not
necessarily a time based tree), you will notice that the more
"simple" an object is, the more it is
governed by instinct, and the less it is governed by learned
behavior. Instinct is typically defined as a behavior all
variations (read) of a particular species
have, however, instinct is also very difficult to define. Simple
(relative) organisms like ameobe are completely governed by
instinct. An insect or most insects
are as well. A rat can have a few things taught to it, and is
estimated to probably be about 95 - 98 % instinct and only 5 - 2
% learned behavior. A cat is
probably about 50 /50, while some dogs are closer to 40 / 60,
that is 40% instinctual, and 60% learned. Humans are estimated to
be at the end of the
scale, i.e. 98% learned behavior and only about 2% instinctual.
In fact, there is much debate currently in psychology as to how
much instinct humans
actually have (remember, instinct is behavior or reactions that
are identical throughout all variations, or races, that is, what
a tribesman forager in Africa does
is absolutely 100% identical to what a rich Caucasian man does in
the U.S., and is identical to an Native American Indian. Humans
do not even posses the
instinct to mother, it has to be learned. So, on the contrary to
your assertion that we have no control over our behavior if we
had evolved, we actually know
that we have MORE control over our behavior than ANY OTHER ANIMAL
ALIVE. However, many people such as yourself, believe that you
have no
control over cultural defined behavior, which is untrue, your
entire objection to evolution is based on your anthropocentrism,
your cultural background, and
your ignorance. There very ability to learn behavior is the
reason WHY we evolved into humans, to say that since we evolved,
we have no control over our
behavior, is a logical fallacy, and again deomstrates your
complete and utter lack of knowledge (read, ignorance) on the
subject of evolution, and indeed it
appears human nature as well.