Lindsey 0 #1 January 24, 2008 Through evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em.-- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewwhyte 1 #2 January 24, 2008 Evolution is a random walk. It does not eliminate anti survival behavior, it merely keeps it in check. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,109 #3 January 24, 2008 > How does one explain . . Through evolution???? Religion???? I recommend the book "Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief." Interesting perspective on how the structure of our brain lends us to believe in things like an afterlife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shotgun 1 #4 January 24, 2008 QuoteWhat leads people to self-destructive behaviors? My guess is a combination of genetics and learned behaviors, not necessarily equal parts of both, and different amounts of each for different people. And of course "self-destructive behavior" is a subjective term. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ExAFO 0 #5 January 24, 2008 QuoteQuoteWhat leads people to self-destructive behaviors? Passive eugenics.Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Shotgun 1 #6 January 24, 2008 QuotePassive eugenics. I don't know about that. It seems that the majority of people who demonstrate self-destructive behaviors are still able to breed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Darius11 12 #7 January 24, 2008 QuoteWhat leads people to self-destructive behaviors? I think first I would need a clarification of what you mean by self-destructive? Some people think Skydiving is self-destructive, and some think doing drugs is self-destructive. I think the many people might do the same thing but for different reasons.I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites lawrocket 3 #8 January 24, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? Through seeking of pleasure, Linds. Probably the most common attirbute to it is the seeking of pleasure or relief. We like to feel good about things, and anything that can give us the sensation of it works. Recall the story of the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey - they did nothing but eat lotus without worrying about other things. People want to feel good. Religion helps that. Sex does that. Drugs help people feel good. But it's when people are feeling good - when they should be worried - that they get into trouble. They smoke. They find out that their blood pressure is high. That makes them nervous and they have a cigarette to calm down. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites maadmax 0 #9 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. I would place my bet on depression ,low self esteem and low self image leading to a frantic search for happiness as some possible explanations. ................................................................. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites JackC 0 #10 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. Here's what Richard Dawkins (Chapter 11, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, (1989)) has to say on the matter: Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. As my colleague N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up an earlier draft of this chapter: `... memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but technically.(3) When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous systems of individual men the world over.' http://www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Lucky... 0 #11 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. One psych instructor lectured that some believe the brain has an internal tension where there is a drive to survive and a drive to commit suicide, and as long as these stay in check, equal force on each side, there will be normalcy, if one gains over the other then unusul behavior will be exhibited. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites vortexring 0 #12 January 25, 2008 Like Lawrocket mentioned, it's all about seeking pleasure. Most technological evolution these days centres mainly on the seeking of such pleasure. 'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites kschilk 0 #13 January 26, 2008 People tell me I'm self-destructive, due to a false perception that I have "dangerous" hobbies. I'd say their combination of couch, Doritos and tv are much more self-destructive, than anything I've ever done. "T'was ever thus." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. 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Shotgun 1 #6 January 24, 2008 QuotePassive eugenics. I don't know about that. It seems that the majority of people who demonstrate self-destructive behaviors are still able to breed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darius11 12 #7 January 24, 2008 QuoteWhat leads people to self-destructive behaviors? I think first I would need a clarification of what you mean by self-destructive? Some people think Skydiving is self-destructive, and some think doing drugs is self-destructive. I think the many people might do the same thing but for different reasons.I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #8 January 24, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? Through seeking of pleasure, Linds. Probably the most common attirbute to it is the seeking of pleasure or relief. We like to feel good about things, and anything that can give us the sensation of it works. Recall the story of the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey - they did nothing but eat lotus without worrying about other things. People want to feel good. Religion helps that. Sex does that. Drugs help people feel good. But it's when people are feeling good - when they should be worried - that they get into trouble. They smoke. They find out that their blood pressure is high. That makes them nervous and they have a cigarette to calm down. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maadmax 0 #9 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. I would place my bet on depression ,low self esteem and low self image leading to a frantic search for happiness as some possible explanations. ................................................................. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackC 0 #10 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. Here's what Richard Dawkins (Chapter 11, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, (1989)) has to say on the matter: Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. As my colleague N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up an earlier draft of this chapter: `... memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but technically.(3) When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous systems of individual men the world over.' http://www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucky... 0 #11 January 25, 2008 QuoteThrough evolution???? Religion???? *Lack* of religion??? What leads people to self-destructive behaviors? There are lots of 'em. One psych instructor lectured that some believe the brain has an internal tension where there is a drive to survive and a drive to commit suicide, and as long as these stay in check, equal force on each side, there will be normalcy, if one gains over the other then unusul behavior will be exhibited. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vortexring 0 #12 January 25, 2008 Like Lawrocket mentioned, it's all about seeking pleasure. Most technological evolution these days centres mainly on the seeking of such pleasure. 'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kschilk 0 #13 January 26, 2008 People tell me I'm self-destructive, due to a false perception that I have "dangerous" hobbies. I'd say their combination of couch, Doritos and tv are much more self-destructive, than anything I've ever done. "T'was ever thus." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
