No, not if we existed for another million years. It seems pretty fundamental to how we work, and how animals work in general. We basically discriminate along most possible lines. Few enough people even aspire to anything else.
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Asklemmy
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Doubtful. Climate change and our own ignorant stupidity will wipe us out long before weβll ever evolve past idiocracy.
There's a book I read a few years ago named "Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging" that delvs into this a bit and why humans are so tribal instinctively. Would highly recommend.
I just finished this one today! Introduced me to a lot of new ideas and contexts. Good read
I don't think it's an instinct, because it can absolutely be taught.
I encourage my kids to get along with everyone, but at the same time I can see how some of their peers are taught to be racists and other clique behaviours from home by parents who are just like that and don't even think about it when they pass it on.
But by default, nobody is like that from birth. Babies aren't racists or afraid of different kinds of people. The fear of others is taught.
It will take many generations to change.
The way I see it that instinct is the cause behind so much suffering and injustice in the world.
That's just what they want you to think.
The late rapper, "Eyedea" of Eyedea & Abilities had a really memorable verse in a song that always comes to mind when I hear this discussed.
Grinding my teeth as Iβm peddling uphill / The fight against ape-hood is fate versus free will / We think we've advanced but there's nowhere to go / Mammals stay captive to animal actions / So slowly we climb up this DNA brick wall / Addicted to emptiness, anger and pitfalls / Desire for space, territory, or lust / We'll eventually turn this whole planet to dust
Bold to assume that it's an instinct and not a taught and learned behavior.
The "Us vs. Them" mentality is also called the "in-group bias", in which you tend to align with other members of a perceived group (with little to no logical reason, it can be as simple as belts vs. suspenders). Like many other fallacies or biases, it is a built-in feature of our caveman-brains that no longer benefits us. When used in propaganda, it is often paired with the "strawman fallacy" to build the perception of an enemy that is barely even human.
You can learn to recognize these biases in yourself and in others - This is called critical thinking. I recommend the podcast "You Are Not So Smart" to everyone to get more insight on this subject.
This current version of humans? No. But could it ever happen? Absolutely, if we assume our future evolutionary human descendants survive and provided we can supply everyone's needs.
Yes ...and the name will have to change from Homo sapiens to something else.
Homo Evolutis
I've heard from other evolutionary biologists that the next gen will be homo sapiens sapiens, and we'll be renamed something else.
interesting ... so I looked it up here :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_taxonomy
...and "homo sapiens sapiens" is not well defined for now at wikipedia - - maybe not the best source I know.
Do I read it correctly that you are an evolutionary biologist ?
No, I just watch content from evolutionary biologists, because it's something I'm interested in.
It may not be that our version of the species will be renamed, but since species delineations are somewhat arbitrary (where does one generation stop and one start, when it's actually a gradual process?), future generations of biologists may decide that we are something else. Either way, we won't be around to know!
The news feeding propaganda over and over isn't helping.
I think we could if enough effort was put forth into making it happen. The problem is that very same "instinct," or rather the plethora of different experiences and ideals held by individuals seems to make it harder if not impossible to ever come to a global united consensus on anything.
No
I hope so. Knowledge and curiousity feed intelligence feed knowledge feed curiousity. A highly educated society with healthy education sytem and good working socioeconomy (concurency in news coverage) can theoretically get over "us vs. them". Until we someday maybe lose it as evolutionary trait.
Outside perspective. Only when we meet another other.
No. There will always be another βthemβ. Thatβs what makes humans so great, but also so destructive. We never settle, and will always look for division, even if we need to create it.
Not unless the fundamentals of human psychology change. Forever is a long time to say that wonβt happen but certainly not in the foreseeable future.
That doesnβt mean it canβt be worked on or mitigated. But itβs not going away completely.
It's a good question. I think it's been shown it's in our DNA to have a tribe that we associate with, and anything outside that tribe is a threat. Used to be a literal tribe, now I think it's mostly based on race. Can this be overcome with education? Unfortunately I'm really not sure.
Not as long as capitalist nationalism is the dominant economic system. It's just tribalism on a global scale.