Anti,

I hope you can get a hold of it. I came upon mine years ago second-hand. It covers so much it's impossible to represent it properly here.

Something else you may enjoy watching is the DVD of the "The Human Planet"...BBC, I think. There's no way you can come away from it with impression that the way we live is the only way. A fascinating insight into the different ways humans exist on this earth to this day from the jungles of South America to New Guinea, East Africa - all over the planet in the 21st century - so many different ways of living.

Interesting discussion. One of the puzzles is the idea of determinism vs free will.

Is human activity (societies or individuals) determined by intransigent factors such as biology, psychology, DNA, environment etc or is there room for free will. If one accepts that free will is a human construct, how much is really of our making that is not already programmed. Is it a merely changes to environment and a lucky combining of certain factors that create change for example. Will human societies always choose the same behaviours, make the same decisions. History suggests this is the case, albeit within different contexts.

From Wikipedia: "Determinism is a metaphysical philosophical position stating that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given those conditions, nothing else could happen. "There are many determinisms, depending upon what pre-conditions are considered to be determinative of an event."[1] Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse motives and considerations, some of which overlap. Some forms of determinism can be tested empirically with ideas stemming from physics and the philosophy of physics. The opposite of determinism is some kind of indeterminism (otherwise called nondeterminism). Determinism is often contrasted with free will."

The idea that a person or a group of people will always repeat the same behaviours or come to decisions based on those pre-conditions as described in the Wikipedia definition. Is there room for free will in that mix or is is free will a figment of our imagination and a product of human psychological factors.

I tend to think there is but this view might be foolish. Certainly a complex puzzle which makes me think that we might never know the answers to human behaviours other than a perspective that might be described as incomplete.

'Certainly a complex puzzle which makes me think that we might never know the answers to human behaviours'

I think it's impossible. The very fact of analyzing ourselves, relies on ourselves, so it's not a static experiment, the variables are elastic.

The analysing part is moving the goalposts as we analyse.

Its like a hand with a pencil trying to draw a picture of itself.

http://fora.tv/2012/04/20/Edward_O_Wilson_The_Social_Conquest_of_Earth directs you to a talk by E. O. Wilson on his book. You may find it interesting.

I find it astonishing that so many subscribe to a socialized version of chemistry and physics.

Is there not something a little more sane and productive we can turn our minds to?

spindoc,

If you don't wish to "turn your mind" to this thread, why did you bother coming here and commenting at all?

Perhaps the best advice I can give is for you to toddle off somewhere else and find a subject more conducive to your sensibilities.