the juvenile Mongolian wolf who created civilization

[salishan]

the juvenile Mongolian wolf who created civilization

the real question
u , ...
should be asking , is

what Gyd does

in the beginning , is

survival of the fittest
(the first cause & prime mover of organic life)

it is the one law , the one design
which preserves & replicates genetic-form thru time
(genotype winners over genotype losers , "eternal" over "temporal")

is this Gyd ?

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i'd like to tell u a story
story of
the juvenile Mongolian wolf who created civilization

(no , not a Russian folktale
this is hard science , with a
dash of speculation thrown in)

somewhere around the Mongolian highlands of the Siberian steppe
15,000 years ago
a pack of wolves descend from the hills to scavenge a trash-heap
trash-dump downwind of a seasonal hunter-gatherer encampment

the trash-dump is full of bison remains & deer remains from a good hunt
bloody remains
& the hunters throw rocks (spears , when necessary) to scare off the wolves
who retreat to the far-off hilltop to wait for nightfall (to re-approach again)

but a couple of young (not fully-mature) wolves are
more courageous (or more foolhardy) , & retreat only
a short distance from the trash-dump , & they
sit & watch the hunters at their chores (at drying & curing the meat)

these young wolves seem almost "curious" (almost intelligent)
& when the hunters toss stones at them , the wolves
back off temporarily , then return (to watch)

mature wolves , with their long-snouts
turn aggressive when suddenly approached , but when
a group of hunters approach them with spears forward-pointed
these young wolves with short-snouts are watchful but passive
they appear to have restrained their impulse toward aggressiveness

the hunters are superstitious about such odd behavior
& these wolves seem harmless , so the hunters return to their tasks
& let the young wolves stay , after awhile tossing'em food-scraps

when these hunters finish their work & decamp , the wolf-pack moves on
but these juvenile wolves follow the hunters , instead of their own pack
& as the young wolves age , their snouts do not grow long &
they remain relatively curious & non-aggressive

when these wolves produce a brood of pups
the hunter-gatherer men & women & children help
feed & care-for the pups which , magically
appear to (also) be curious & nonaggressive
(the people shoeing-away or killing the uncharmed pups who are not)

the people continue this practice with each new generation's brood
& begin to selectively breed these creatures for useful traits , &
(over generations) the animals' snouts get increasingly shorter
& the creatures prove "intelligent" (prove their worth)
by aiding in the hunt & by protecting the encampment

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4 millennia before "figs" are domesticated in the Fertile Crescent
the "dog" is domesticated on the steppes of Asia
but it is almost as if the "dog" domesticates the "human"

almost as if these juvenile-wolves
come to the hunter-gatherers & say
transform me into a "dog"
into a semi-human , into
u'r partner in the survival-game

to animistic hunter-gatherers , who see the natural world
in magical terms , such a request would make perfect sense

(which probably is how
the "fig" is similarly domesticated in the Fertile Crescent
domesticate me ! , the fig says to the gatherer
who selects those "intelligent" figs with "useful" properties
like large-size & ones which preserve-well
to plant these special-figs back into the soil & carefully cultivate them
not eating them
while eating or discarding only those lesser figs which
fail to exhibit so-well a "magical" user-friendly "spirit")

so the dog (& the fig) become good human partners
in the survival-game
(but being artificial creations of human ingenuity , neither dog nor fig
would have much chance of surviving well "out in nature" alone
separated from humans)

partner with humans or die-out as a species

"survival of the fittest" is a natural law
(first cause , & prime mover of organic DNA-driven existence)
but when humans domesticate the juvenile-wolf (& the fig)
they arrogantly set-aside this law , set aside one of nature's principal axioms
(humans are clearly interfering with the survival-game , &
are flagrantly beginning to redirect nature's "natural course")

but the spirit of the juvenile-wolf (the spirit of the fig)
(implicitly) tells the human to do just this , to
create a brand-new species of life

(a divine , a counterintuitive compulsion insists that
this is something the human must do)
& out of this creative-arrogance
civilization is born

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the first ancient farmers & herders
learn from the dog (& learn from the fig)

they take their cue from the juvenile
(from the "divine" , from the magical/"unnatural") behavior
of their own domesticated creatures
& (now as city-dwellers , not hunter-gatherers) they learn

- to be self-restrained (less "aggressive" , less violent) &
- to be curious (less "skittish" , less fearful)​

& they can relax , a little
not be so concerned about "immediate survival"
(their "fight/flee instinct" now largely turned-off , living no longer "in the wild")

these agriculturalists become "juvenile" , like the dog
become self-restrained & curious creatures (civilized creatures)
locating within themselves , counterintuitive (non-innate) drives
"anti-instincts" , which (on the surface) work "against survival"
but which make them grow as creatures , grow beyond their natural impulses

qualities of heart & mind ("divine" qualities) which make them ready
to build civilization

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i'm not a "dog person" , so it is
only by accident that (a couple years ago) i am watching
a PBS NOVA special called Dogs Decoded

at one point , it talks about a decades-long
Russian experiment , breeding foxes

a small percentile of foxes will set aside their
fight/flee survival-instinct , & grow-up to be markedly

- less aggressive toward humans (exhibit a much higher provocation-threshold)
- less skittish of humans (exhibit a shorter flight-distance when confronted)​

to overall , appear more "intelligent"

- (appear to be more "self-restrained" , less violent)
- (appear to be more "curious" , less fearful)​

& those foxes which behave this way , yes
grow a shorter snout

another (more recent) PBS (this time NATURE) special
Dogs that Changed the World
not only locates the dog's genetic-origin in an east-Asian wolf
but also points to a strange genetic phenomenon
behind the shortened snout , & to the evolutionary significance of this

in the womb (or egg or seed) , each fetal-creature retraces the path of evolution
(as it gestates) , switching "on" one gene-trait & "not switching on" another
proceeding on a clockwork-timetable , until
the wolf (or fig or human) arrives at that point in the process
where all its current attributes & traits are in place
& the creature is "born"

but actually , not "all" its attributes & traits are "in place"
since the clockwork-timetable does not simply stop when the creature is born

as the creature ages after birth , this same genetic-timetable
ticks on & this internal biological clock triggers new developments

- triggers hormones (now) which (for instance) nudge the creature to stand & walk
- triggers different hormones (later) causing the development of sexual characteristics , (et cetera)​

the wolf , as it matures from youth into adulthood
has one particular biological-trigger (a hormone release) which
transforms the wolf into its "mature" state, becoming
a more aggressive & a more skittish creature
in order (as an adult) to have a better chance to survive nature's harsh demands

but a rare percentage of wolves have an autistic-like genetic-lapse
so that when the biological-moment arrives , this timetable trigger does not switch "on"
& thus those "mature" (fight/flee) wolf-traits do not "properly" develop
(which likely dooms such a wolf to a brief & ugly life in the wild)

this wolf stays "juvenile" in features & behavior-patterns
& passes on this trait to a higher percentage of its brood
(if it lives long-enough to successfully procreate)

this turning of a DNA on-switch to the off-position , (geneticists now realize)
is a trick of evolution , which allows one species to branch & rapidly evolve
(seemingly overnight , in just a few generations)
into a brand-new species

evolution is not "gradual" (like Darwin assumed) but contains

- (long) periods of relative species-stability &
- (brief) periods of rapid change , of branching into new species​

(& this too , maybe explains why
domestication of certain plants & animals
occurs so very very quickly , in the ancient world)

this "juvenile" off-switch is
one of the hidden gambits of evolution
(this "anti-design" gambit , it is this &
not "survival" , which is Gyd's handiwork)

intelligent life arises
against "the existing pattern"
countermanding all existing rules

this is how reality works
Gyd breaks natural laws

 

[bananabrain]

i'm not so sure what about this is supposed to be "hard science"; the anecdotes are inevitably conjectural, as all we have is the examination of remains. however, the anti-G!D squad would presumably argue that it is a "natural law" that "natural laws" are designed to be broken through variation....

b'shalom

bananabrain

 

[radarmark]

salishan, I can put another thread on this marvelous tapestry of yours. One can postulate G!d as manifesting creative and constructive change (versus destructive change).

Given this it was G!d who gave rise to both the wolf-human and fig-human dyads. I would add barley-human (originally gathered and then grown for beer, not bread--another insight of the kind of scientific exploration you mapped).

If our lives (as I believe) are a chain of actualities or events or experiences, and if there are moments of uniqueness (wolf-human or the first cave painting or the first word or the first alphabet) it is the power of creativity (G!d) that lays behind them.

This creativity could be present in all experiences (throughout history here on earth and on Omnicom Alpha the first planet of a star system which has receded beyond our light limit). G!d would then be everywhere and everywhen as part of the process that is reality.

As for "scientific rigor". I believe what most people think is science is really technology and engineering--dealing with only experimentation and application of mathematical or scientific data. Real science (what Kuhn called revolutionary science and Feyerabend renormalized science) is not only physical fact driven, but driven by an individual scientist's creative reflexion (deep logical thought). We get breakthroughs in science (like quanta or spacetime) not by assessing physical reality with existing theory, but by abandoning theory and searching for new ways of seeing.

In this sense, the stories of the wolf-human, fig-human and barley-human sit right up there with the story of a 13 year old Einstein riding a beam of light or a middle-aged Planck imagining a dis-continuous ocean of action (hence Planck's constant).

 

[salishan]

i do not believe in miracles
i do not believe in intention
i do not believe in revelation

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Gyd loves nature , but will have nothing to do with it
except via intervention , although
Gyd has no truck with miracles either , or any big displays
nature has its designs , & it is nature which is flamboyant
Gyd is subtle , targeting change in one creature's life at a time
Gyd bends the inevitable , Gyd tinkers

nature creates , with a plan in mind
Gyd does not , Gyd has no prior intentions
Gyd swerves nature , changes its natural course
Gyd bends the inevitable , Gyd points-out a direction

in Gyd , nothing is hardwired
there is no revelation , no innate ideals
Gyd works by more mysterious means , without preordained designs
Gyd utilizes some bit-of-minutia , perfectly-placed to equivocate nature's plans
& enlists this minutia as a tipping-point , for some unprecedented move
Gyd bends the inevitable , Gyd delivers intelligent results

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Gyd tinkers
Gyd points-out a direction
Gyd delivers intelligent results

Gyd bends the inevitable

 

[iBrian]

Gyd loves nature , but will have nothing to do with it
except via intervention , although
Gyd has no truck with miracles either , or any big displays

All energy is an expression of God - all matter, living an inanimate, is an expression of God.

God is already in Nature, but Nature itself is but a tiny manifestation of God.

All life is effectively a miracle. But we are forgetful of this miracle of being that we denigrate it as mundane. Yet we look for it on other planets, and if we find it, will declare it miraculous.