http://www.dlwaldron.com/bonobos.html

There you go OUG, sometimes pictures say more then
1000s of words.

These certainly do.

First up, the human animal is biologically a primate, and the human animal is capable of speech; ergo, the human animal Is a "talking primate" (among other things less complimentary and less endearing to other species).

Yabby et al,

I can't help wondering if the human animal may not have a special gene, one not shared by other primates or anthropoid apes (these being our nearest biological "relatives") - and also not shared by any other living species I can think of - relating to, or even definitive of, humankind's singular drive not just for survival and propagation, but for the utmost domination of the domain, of the Earth and of all it contains.

No other animal exhibits environmental dominance behaviour akin to that of humans. Chimps and many other species fight to protect their domain, their territory, in what would be seen as normal survival behaviour, but they don't go around bashing everyone and everything they don't like (including of their own kind) to death. It thence appears possible that it is only the absolute futility of any attempt by any one group of humans to try to dominate and eliminate all the rest of humanity (or in other words to attain universal ethnic/genetic purity) that has prevented a worldwide ethnic-cleansing/genocide campaign - not that some haven't tried in any event (and fortunately failed).

Therefore one might reasonably hypothesize that it is only learning, ie environment/nurture which keeps mankind in check, and it is the reverse of such "positive morality" influence (ie Negative, immorality or amorality "indoctrination") which may account for some continuing to do the "sisyphus" and train terrorists, suicide bombers, child soldiers, jihadists, etc, or become potentates and tyrants, etc. (What keeps the likes of Mogabe clinging on to power?)

I don't think people are born evil, but have the capacity - with some much more susceptible than others.

dear yabby...a picture might be worth a 1000 words
but i have read near 10,000 of you mentioning your bonobo theory

[and mate im not against their mjeans of diplomacy[really]
but if a bonobo presented herself to me..i could easilly say no

heck i have turned down human acting like bonobo
so clearly with any bonobo vision...your pushing poop up hill as far as im concerned..[i need words]..your evidence of some bonobo pictures..just isnt proof of anything

i have pets that act human..animals dream
we are biologicly related...im fine with that
mate in hell...huhmans assume their base animal lust forms

that still dont explain your condoning murder of 50 million babies..[in usa since vietnam war alone]

there is a difference of mind here mate
one can find like mind..in many divergent brains

i came accross a fine sepperation of mind
in the link i posted at the bias topic
http://new-birth.net/booklet/GettingOut.PDF

its a guys study of death..[or rather what happens after]
in it he explains much of the so called memories tunnels etc,..are the physical brain shutting down..[yet the mind often immediatly is in heaven[or hell]

mate if you read my link
i will read yours

but we both made up our minds
and with no bonobo to make us see reason
well mate thats it i guess

salt peter seems a deeper thinker
he must have a higher mind

so i will return later
to find out what his mind made his brain reveal

animal minds are instinct../memory
heck even trees and plants have emotions
but higher concepts..[over and abouve presenting your pink bits]

that takes mind..
not brawn nor brain

salty/peter..quote..""the human animal is biologically a primate, and the human animal is capable of speech;""

the human mind is capable of writing
so loose the animal lets do it with words

words in writing need mind
to write it..as well as comprehend that written

we are further from the beast..
than any THEORY of evolution could grasp..or explain

""wondering if the human animal may not have a special gene"'

genes as you know..can be present..but not switched on..till the right circumstances or stimuli..we arnt beasts[ok many of us arnt]..because we chose to avoid negative cosequence]

animals have no such multifacted mechanisms..[of mind]
to forsee more than immediate con-see-quence..

they cannot see 5 moves ahead,
like we would need..to play..say chess..[succesfully]
nor able to write shakespeare..nor comprehend the inner workings of the plot

see that if life was a radio wave
the beasts are on the landline..and us able to connect to wifi[in real time]...try to think like spirit thinks

pretend yiour a spirit..wispering into the mind of the beast the words of a song..or a play..or how to build an atom bomb
thing is you can wisper in the beasts ear..till the cows come home...and get nothing

but our mind..in the higher realms of being
we can grasp such concepts..

[see how things work..is the law...*MORE SHALL BE GIVEN*]

if we think a certain thought
that singular thought..links to all the other same minded thought..

thought continues

Saltpetre,

Primates in general are forest dwelling fruit pickers who eat where they harvest. Man evolved the machinery - psychological and physical - to range away from the home base for the purpose of hunting protein. In doing this he had to evolve all sorts of cooperative, and therefore tribal, behaviours to survive. According to Desmond Morris, a big brain is only part of the deal. man had to evolve physically and behaviourally quite significantly to compensate for the deficits apparent compared to true carnivores such as lions and wolves.

So it seems that our blending of primate origins and our evolution into a protein-hunting carnivore has furnished us with behaviours that both exalt us and demean us. Complexity seems to be our middle name.

Interesting question, Salpetre.

I think its probably a bit of both, ie nature and nurture. Certainly
evil can be taught, as you point out, with child soldiers and others.

But I think that genes play a role too. I was just pondering
the other day, about how the lives of some of my old school class
landed up. The doctors and lawyers were already evident then.
We also had a bit of a psychopath in the class. He landed up being
convicted of murder, in his late 20s. I think it was just how
his brain was wired.

So do psychopaths learn to become psychopaths? For some it seems
like an innate tendency.