An Existential Case for Zapffe
Figure 1aZapffe was right in stating that the human being is a paradox. According to him, evolution overreached in a sense when it created humans. Humans can indeed act against their design. But, what is this design, and how can something act against its own nature? After all, our nature is what drives us, how can we possibly be against that nature?
A being with conflicting objectives is a paradox. Imagine the following examples:
- A being evolves to be attracted to sexual images but also evolves abstract thought that results in technological feats such as LCD screens and computers. The being spends its time in watching sexual images on the LCD screen instead of looking for a potential mate, which it was designed to do in the first place (Figure 1a).
- A being enjoys sex because it once led to babies. The being, with the ability for abstract thought, finds several ways to enjoy sex without making babies. The enjoyment, it looks like, amounts to almost nothing now.
- A being finds the sight of certain foods to be appetizing, but does not find a saline drip that way - despite the fact that the drip is probably much better for his health and well being.
- A being finds the idea that his wife be fertilized in-vitro by his identical twin brother's sperm disgusting, despite the fact that it makes absolutely no difference when it comes to the child's genetic make-up.
I can understand that evolution cannot be the answer to all this weird set of technological achievements. But as the technology advances more and more every day, each of the adaptive responses of humans becomes less so, to the point of irrelevance. In other words, our abstract thought evolved to such an extent that it renders our other adaptations invalid. If this is not a paradox, I do not know what is.
posted by Erhan Onal @ 12:20 AM
3 Comments:
'Human nature' is a lie created to keep the apes in line. Now that god is dead and abrahamic morality is no longer relevant (even the broken clock, in this case, a certain Herr N., shows the correct time twice everyday) the ruling classes need a new morality in order to continue their business as usual. Using the new priesthood of science, they preach us 'human nature'.
Thus harmful ideas like, say, communism, are no longer 'contrary to religion', they are instead 'contrary to human nature'. Because 'human nature' is selfish, greedy, irrational and sex obsessed, like the western bourgois society.
If you are not like that, obviously you are not really 'human'. If that's the case just make sure that you keep your mouth shut, your skin white, your name Christian (Jewish also fine) and stay away from oil fields or other strategic resources.
Well that means in a million years or so human males will run away from pictures such as the one in Figure 1a; people who don't want kids will vanish; not sure about the saline drip, but if it has anything to do with reproductive success, I'm sure people will be lining up at saline drip bars; and they will be ok with the last example. So there you have it :- )
I am fed up with lies after lies after lies from the self proclaimed soldiers of truth (i.e. evolutionary psychologists). I say, let's stop this bourgeois nonsense, I say, let us become deconstructionists and post-Marxist cafe intellectuals!
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