Guest Post by Mac Kittredge: "Apex Predators, Social Synergy & Culture" - Granite Grok

Guest Post by Mac Kittredge: “Apex Predators, Social Synergy & Culture”

Random Thought for the day:  Apex Predators, Social Synergy & Culture

Statism doesn’t work, because it can’t. It leads inevitably to tyranny and, as Thomas Hobbs would have it, lives that are “nasty, brutish and short!”  But why is this so?  Are there fundamental and inescapable aspects of our essential nature that ordain these results? Yes!

Humans are tribal, apex predators with the option for volitional teamwork (playing nice) and reasoning acutely (to-think or not-to-think is a choice). We are not domestic animals. Nor are we, essentially and appropriately, programmed by instinct and read-only, behavioral norms. Predators must, as an essential element of their nature and survival, be aspirational and adept at employing real-time initiative. We homo sapiens are designed to think on our feet, not walk in our sleep. To lead or be led, not driven.


Another choice we have is to teach our children the hard-won lessons and keystones of our civilization. These are acquired learning; encompassing fundamentals like spoken and written language, teamwork, appropriate behavior & social values, history, mathematics, science and the many joys of art and music. These are not innate, but taught and learned one individual at a time. They can be lost in a generation! The dark ages and other bleak periods in history gave grim evidence of this, as did the halting centuries of recovery and rediscovery.

It is not enough to coast along because we rust-out far faster than we wear-out. Given the laws of entropy, as Alice found out, we have to run pretty fast just to stay abreast. We have a real duty to pitch-in and add to America’s growing culture with our individual dreams, insight, discoveries and cooperative enterprise. All this, if we are to seize a future worth having and sojourn, once again, upon the moon.

It is very clear to me that we will have science, technology, the arts and prosperity in direct relation to how much liberty, honor, trust and teamwork exists. The lessons of history, around the globe, have proven it, as they once convinced the founding fathers. Throughout our nation, the essence of American exceptionalism is pervasive: Live free, posse-up and prosper!

Mac Kittredge
Rochester NH

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