301

Will humanity ever be able to overcome that tribalistic instinct of "us vs. them?" (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

129 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The way I see it that instinct is the cause behind so much suffering and injustice in the world.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] laylawashere44 53 points 1 year ago

All the Great Apes (probably, definitely), including us, have an instinct and built in skill at identifying snakes.

Researchers did experiments with both humans and other apes where they were shown progressively less obscured images of different predators and without fault we and our relatives were able to identify the snakes faster than any other creature.

This means that the instinct to find, and kill snakes goes back millions of years. Yet now when I encounter a snake my instinct is to move it to a safer spot so it doesn't get hurt or hurt me.

I think that if we can get over such a deep rooted instinct, we can get over the 'Us Vs Them' instinct too.

[-] abbadon420@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

Wow, good argument. But did you really overcome the instinctual fear for snakes, or do you winch first, before rational takes over to tell you to move the snake to a safer place?

[-] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If wincing is all that happens before treating others with respect and rationality, then I'd call that a success.

[-] abbadon420@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

Touché

[-] livus@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

When I see a snake my first instinct is to try to touch it. We don't have them in my country, so it feels like meeting a magical creature.

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

But the vast majority of people don't.

this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023

301 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43942 readers

560 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS