welcome to "dan takes advantage of his stress-related insomnia" session number one. if you're up for the challenge, i could use a little help with a quite philosophical topic.
i'm trying to identify for comparison the differences between the social constructs of man and the instinctive or basic constructs of man. it's hard to do. i'd like some help.
first, what do i mean? a "construct of man" is some rule that we follow. i am piecing together an essay discussing mankind's natural behavior, sort of reverse-arguing the standpoint that our purpose in life is to compete genetically (reproduction) and not much else except maintain the oxygen / carbon dioxide balance we were put here to maintain with plants.
here are a couple examples and if you could help me think of any, it would really clarify and help me write.
an innate construct of man: socratic thirsts (hunger, slumber, imbibition, sexuality). that is to say you desire to eat, sleep, drink, and, well, be merry. not 'married' (discussed in a bit). not a one of us who is not genetically flawed does not alternatingly thirst for all these things. no amount of 'civilization' will eliminate this desire. remember "demolition man?" the sex machine and permit? social constructs. and may i say, "nope." we'll never allow it. the underlying innate construct that we thirst for these things implies that we will never voluntarily allow our access to these things to be denied. thus, no 'sex licenses' or 'reproduction licenses' will ever be successful or appreciated programs. (optional digression: china has a rule about one kid. their population is collapsing, they have a 4-2-1 syndrome of spoiled children with two doting parents and four doting grandparents, and did i mention that since girls are left to die they're all boys? give it fifty years and china is rendered back into warring city-states, with clans trading guns for wives)
a social construct of man: monogamous relationships. mankind inherently wants to breed as much as sustainably possible. we have trained ourselves away from this behavior and have thus become self-destructive: if we were pre-programmed to be monogamous, why would there be so much infidelity?
an innate construct of man: to be dissatisfied with his surroundings. have you ever noticed it's always, always easier to see how much better your life could be than it is to see how much worse your life could be? regardless of this, your life could be worse but you only pay attention to the fact that it could be better. what's really happening here is instinctive behavior: you are trained to become dissatisfied with things as you become accustomed to them. in this fashion, you are kept mobile by your own desire to better yourself in perpetuity. this, in turn, brings you to new breeding opportunities, new eating opportunities, etc.
once you start categorizing constructs as social or innate, it becomes painfully clear that we really are only here to serve one purpose. it's actually scary.
a social construct of man: suicide. you think you want to die? think again. if you are seriously pondering suicide, and not one of those cry-for-attention-failed-suicide-attempts, you are just looking for a way out of your current situation because of the underlying innate construct i've already mentioned. your instinct is to better your surroundings constantly and something (usually the way society denies youths freedoms) prevents you from acting on that instinct. so you think of killing yourself as a way of easing the pain. let me tell you something: nature doesn't provide a gun, or a knife. the natural world around you doesn't have many sharp edges or firearms available. it's actually really hard to kill yourself in nature. most of the world is flattish and non-toxic. and your innate feeding construct prevents you from starving yourself (really, this is true; it's as near-impossible to force yourself to starvation as it is to kill yourself by holding your breath until you suffocate). thus, you decide suicide is an answer only because it is an accessible answer, when what you really desire is a better surrounding and are just too impatient with the world around you for its lack of drive to provide it.
wow, sorry that got so long, but it's a good beginning, if you ask me.
~ dan ~
i'm trying to identify for comparison the differences between the social constructs of man and the instinctive or basic constructs of man. it's hard to do. i'd like some help.
first, what do i mean? a "construct of man" is some rule that we follow. i am piecing together an essay discussing mankind's natural behavior, sort of reverse-arguing the standpoint that our purpose in life is to compete genetically (reproduction) and not much else except maintain the oxygen / carbon dioxide balance we were put here to maintain with plants.
here are a couple examples and if you could help me think of any, it would really clarify and help me write.
an innate construct of man: socratic thirsts (hunger, slumber, imbibition, sexuality). that is to say you desire to eat, sleep, drink, and, well, be merry. not 'married' (discussed in a bit). not a one of us who is not genetically flawed does not alternatingly thirst for all these things. no amount of 'civilization' will eliminate this desire. remember "demolition man?" the sex machine and permit? social constructs. and may i say, "nope." we'll never allow it. the underlying innate construct that we thirst for these things implies that we will never voluntarily allow our access to these things to be denied. thus, no 'sex licenses' or 'reproduction licenses' will ever be successful or appreciated programs. (optional digression: china has a rule about one kid. their population is collapsing, they have a 4-2-1 syndrome of spoiled children with two doting parents and four doting grandparents, and did i mention that since girls are left to die they're all boys? give it fifty years and china is rendered back into warring city-states, with clans trading guns for wives)
a social construct of man: monogamous relationships. mankind inherently wants to breed as much as sustainably possible. we have trained ourselves away from this behavior and have thus become self-destructive: if we were pre-programmed to be monogamous, why would there be so much infidelity?
an innate construct of man: to be dissatisfied with his surroundings. have you ever noticed it's always, always easier to see how much better your life could be than it is to see how much worse your life could be? regardless of this, your life could be worse but you only pay attention to the fact that it could be better. what's really happening here is instinctive behavior: you are trained to become dissatisfied with things as you become accustomed to them. in this fashion, you are kept mobile by your own desire to better yourself in perpetuity. this, in turn, brings you to new breeding opportunities, new eating opportunities, etc.
once you start categorizing constructs as social or innate, it becomes painfully clear that we really are only here to serve one purpose. it's actually scary.
a social construct of man: suicide. you think you want to die? think again. if you are seriously pondering suicide, and not one of those cry-for-attention-failed-suicide-attempts, you are just looking for a way out of your current situation because of the underlying innate construct i've already mentioned. your instinct is to better your surroundings constantly and something (usually the way society denies youths freedoms) prevents you from acting on that instinct. so you think of killing yourself as a way of easing the pain. let me tell you something: nature doesn't provide a gun, or a knife. the natural world around you doesn't have many sharp edges or firearms available. it's actually really hard to kill yourself in nature. most of the world is flattish and non-toxic. and your innate feeding construct prevents you from starving yourself (really, this is true; it's as near-impossible to force yourself to starvation as it is to kill yourself by holding your breath until you suffocate). thus, you decide suicide is an answer only because it is an accessible answer, when what you really desire is a better surrounding and are just too impatient with the world around you for its lack of drive to provide it.
wow, sorry that got so long, but it's a good beginning, if you ask me.
~ dan ~
you are confundaling me... 
