Article View: sci.bio
Article #1532Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
From: Rod VAN MECHELEN
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 1990 02:57
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 1990 02:57
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2699 bytes
In article <17570@netcom.UUCP>, barry@netcom.UUCP (Kenn Barry) writes: > In article <59261@microsoft.UUCP> rodvan@microsoft.UUCP (Rod VAN MECHELEN) writes: > >In article <16791@netcom.UUCP>, barry@netcom.UUCP (Kenn Barry) writes: > >> In article <59079@microsoft.UUCP> rodvan@microsoft.UUCP (Rod VAN MECHELEN) writes: > >> >we survive by virtue of our rational faculty. > >> > >> Surely not only that? Mating is an important part of > >> racial survival, but mating seems to have a very necessary > >> bit of irrationality about it :-). > > > >Which is? > > Love. And sex. Both Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden present definitions of "love" which are based on the idea of a rational love. Not bad definitions, as such things go, either. You can find these in Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED, and in Branden's THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ROMANTIC LOVE. Or, for a real humdinger, <-: you can wait for me to finish my book. As far as I can tell, I've formulated the most comprehensive definition which takes in not only rational love, but also irrational love. As for sex, I can think of all kinds of examples of both rational and irrational sex. Can't you? > > >And why? > > Beats the shit out of me :-). In other words, you don't know what you're talking about. > > >Just because 99% of the human population behaves like an > >idiot doesn't mean idiocy is either a desirable characteristic > >or necessary to our survival. > > There's more to life than survival. I don't think love > would be as rewarding as it is, were it reducible to purely > logical components. Rationality is overrated. Logic is only > one minor function of the human brain, and in some ways a > trivial one. We can program machines to be logical, but we > can't (yet, at least) program them to appreciate beauty, to > feel love, or to understand self-sacrifice. And from the crow's nest, you illustrate that you do not understand the difference between "rationality" and logic. Hint: Logic is a tool of cognition; rationality is a faculty. > > - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry > ---------------------------------------------------------------- OO \/ Rod
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arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!lll-winken!uunet!microsoft!rodvanReferences:
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!lll-winken!uunet!microsoft!rodvan From: rodvan@microsoft.UUCP (Rod VAN MECHELEN) Newsgroups: sci.bio,alt.romance,soc.men,soc.women,soc.singles Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous? Message-ID: <59598@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 6 Dec 90 02:57:21 GMT References: <1990Nov8.205905.1627@oracle.com> <16791@netcom.UUCP> <17570@netcom.UUCP> Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Lines: 63