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

  • 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
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      11 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
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        1 year ago

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

  • @plactagonic@sopuli.xyz
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    11 year ago

    As long as power hungry people exist. It is basically easiest thing to implement in your politics and get people behind you.

  • No, and it shouldn’t. Not all people are good, not all are working in your best interests and it’s high time the rest of you grow up and realize that fact.

    • Legendsofanus
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      18 months ago

      I just finished this one today! Introduced me to a lot of new ideas and contexts. Good read

  • Metawish
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    01 year ago

    Bold to assume that it’s an instinct and not a taught and learned behavior.

  • @bstix@feddit.dk
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    01 year ago

    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.

  • @calabast@lemm.ee
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    01 year ago

    Maybe if some mad scientist releases a virus with some CRISPR in it to edit our genes and snip out some of the tribalism drive. Otherwise, I doubt it.

  • @orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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    01 year ago

    Humans are reactionary and emotionally driven. Thats why empty hot button issues are such a trigger for people. We need to learn to ignore those things and work together, but the pessimist in me doesn’t see it happening. Thats a massive shift and based on what I’ve observed in the US, that divide is doing nothing but widening.

    All we can do is be aware of it, not get roped into manufactured propaganda, and unionize.

    • deweydecibel
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      1 year ago

      empty hot button issues

      Agree for the most part but this here is also part of the issue. What one considers an “empty hot button topic” tends to be based on what directly affects them. I’ve routinely seen people on both sides use this exact same label to dismiss things like LGBT rights or abortion access. To the individuals that actually suffer, those are not “empty hot button topics”.

      Like I very distinctly remember a time when the debate around gay marriage was called a distraction from Iraq. It was a frequent applause line in many, many straight cis comedian’s sets. It may have been convenient in that way, but to the LGBT community, it was real oppression and a real fight for equality. It also wasn’t some facade that was being put on by the right, they were genuine about it. That fight needed to be fought at the same time as the fight to end the war in Iraq, or the recession, or any of the “bigger” issues of the 2000s.

  • deweydecibel
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    01 year ago

    I’ll get more basic than everyone else here:

    Unless the human brain collectively evolves in a very short period to function differently than it has since we first started throwing shit at other hominids, no. We, collectively, as a society, can aspire to be better than our animal nature but that hardware is still there and it will never, ever, stop pushing people to tribalism, selfishness, and aggression.

    We can’t fix us. We can only do the best with what we have and keep moving.