Are we ALL descendants of jerks?

The theory of natural selection has been explained and implemented so many times that I'm sure I could never provide any new explanation of it. However, I just want to try to offer a different interpretation of it.....who knows - maybe this is nothing new. Maybe someone has already written a collection of novels on "my" idea. But I just thought I'd throw it out on the table.

"You are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning"

- The Librarian to Master Chief
Halo 4

Come on - let's face it: we all have a certain level of self gratification and self inflation. At the very least, I'm sure many of us have at one time wanted to hear someone powerful or wise tell us of how special we truly are but have not realized yet - like Master Chief from the Halo video game series, for example. In lame man's terms, Master Chief is a video game superhuman soldier that has been boosted mentally, physically, and in every possible aspect to form the ultimate human being.

You might be surprised to hear, then, that you aren't so different from Master Chief - in regard to natural selection. Haven't you heard something like this before (explaining the very existence of the modern day human?):

Millions of our ancestors died so that we could be here.

Whether it was through disease, lack of superior strength or mental abilities, so many of our ancestral human beings died so that the superior humans could reproduce and lead up to what would become every single human being today. The fact that we can all survive in Earth's current inhabitable environments, and not just randomly die from an obscure disease, is proof of this.


So I ask you...
Are we all really the descendants of jerks? Why do I question this? Because all of our ancestors, having survived the competition, probably did so by backstabbing all the weaker people.

Imagine all the dorks and nerds and social rejects. What if they were subject to the fullest extent of natural selection during the time of our ancestors.....would they have any chance?

So is the current human race the product of bullies?

It's a good question...

And yes, we probably are the descendants of survival-at-all-costs kinda jerks... :blink:

But, does it really mean anything? Yes, maybe we share a bit of DNA with these ancestors...but we can be whoever we want to be, regardless of whether we're only alive as a result of back-stabbing and selfishness...

We don't owe our origins anything...

:laugh: Sorry, the title just makes me giggle. I love it.

And yes to the question.

Though, I'd like to point out that dorks of the past may have used their superior brain power to outwit their beefier compitition...although past dorks may have been jerks too. Just think of the first smarty pants that realized how "useful" poisonous plants could be...

So, I guess my point is that if we still lived by survival of the fittest some of the dorks, nerds, and social rejects might be better able to cope than some of the jocks and popular kids.

But, does it really mean anything? Yes, maybe we share a bit of DNA with these ancestors...

if we're all descendants of "jerks" we don't just share "a bit" of DNA with them ...

Perhaps your definition of "jerk" is unjust. Maybe "jerk" is normal. And people who are excessively nice or unreasonably bad are the ones who are abnormal. We live in an era where we want to help our suffering brothers and sisters. Alleviate their suffering, support them, etc.

But this is not the first time humanity experiences those wishful social thoughts. And the previous times, it didnt go so well.... (just search google or "roman socialism")

This reminds me of an episode of Gossip Girl, when Blair explained why she thought she was better than others. She said something like...

"Generations of breeding and wealth had to come together to produce me. I have more in common with Marie Antoinette, than I do with you. The truth is, the rabblers still rabble, and they need a queen."

Lol...not quite natural selection, but I think it demonstrates how some people can come to feel entitled by what they were born into.

But we haven't survived and thrived for hundreds of thousands of years simply because we felt entitled to.

And riding the wave of someone else's success can be all too easy...

But we all have to step up and play our role in the "tapestry of life." (Lol, quotez 4 dayz).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPKy3ViuW3I

Angelus wrote: This reminds me of an episode of Gossip Girl, when Blair explained why she thought she was better than others. She said something like...

"Generations of breeding and wealth had to come together to produce me. I have more in common with Marie Antoinette, than I do with you. The truth is, the rabblers still rabble, and they need a queen."

Yeah, but somehow it's awesome when Blair says it... :blush:

This line of thinking is the result of living in a violent, competitive society. Before Darwin came along, people actually needed one another to survive. Men needed women so they treated them well, etc. Look at Native American societites... Did they evolve by back-stabbing? Almost every culture that has survived millennia has been based on cooperation while competitive ones collapse, see Rome, Egypt, Han Dynasty, Nazi Germany, etc.

[quote="SeanChing" post=99351Are we all really the descendants of jerks?

So is the current human race the product of bullies?[/quote]

Some folks are.

Why do I question this? Because all of our ancestors, having survived the competition, probably did so by backstabbing all the weaker people.

Individuals only survived if their group did.

Imagine all the dorks and nerds and social rejects. What if they were subject to the fullest extent of natural selection during the time of our ancestors.....would they have any chance

Yes they were and the did they.

I was a dork/nerd/social reject...and I come from an abusive childhood...and was regularly bullied 2-3 times daily for the first 3 years of school...all of the beatings I took at home and school made me strong...not just physically, but mentally as well...so I would say natural selection tested me pretty thoroughly and I came out on top...especially since many that go through similar abuse break either physically, mentally, or both...and often pick the easy way out(suicide)...I would also say I am the product of bullies...however, I do not take advantage of those weaker than me...I may pity them, and on occasion be disgusted with them, but I do protect them...