50P’s mission is all about humanitarianism(def).
If we’re going to take a humanitarian view, it’s important to be aware of flaws that WE ALL have inherited. This is a great way to find common ground and take on some accountability.
Where better to start than with human instincts?
Let’s kick this off with a brief timeline of human achievement:
The first period in the timeline above consisted of a vast age of human development that lasted from 6 million to 12,000 years ago. Our ancestors achieved more unique intellectual and adaptive growth during this period than any other animal tribe(def) over the history of the planet… By a looooooong shot. This growth rendered(def) us instinctually different from the rest of the animal kingdom as we developed our own uniquely human versions of instincts including acquisition, affection, aggression, denial, envy, fear, greed, imitation, jealousy, love, loyalty, resentment, revenge, rivalry, sociability and our urge to get naked and start the revolution (sexuality).5,6,9
… And maybe our instinct to laugh (or not to laugh) at stupid jokes 😄.
Then, JUST twelve thousand years ago, humans discovered the ability to till the soil and work crops to cultivate produce. This simple move toward controlling resources would launch humanity into a new period of explosive expansion, unprecedented(def) even for our own species.
So where does that leave us today?
According to Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, Nigel Nicholson, “… although human beings today inhabit a thoroughly modern world of space exploration and virtual realities, they do so with the ingrained(def) mentality of Stone Age hunter-gatherers.”11
Our pace of growth over the last 12,000 years has been far too rapid for our instincts (which took millions of years to evolve) to keep pace. Outpacing our instincts has caused many of them to become misleading, or at best, flawed. Consequently, we’re seeing increased stress, anxiety, depression, and conflict.
Instincts have led to greater stressors
The fight or flight response, our innate(def) ability to determine whether to face or flee a threat, initially evolved in conjunction(def) with fear to address the risk of physical harm from predators.
However, “Today, we mainly face social and mental threats… Most stresses in modern life arise not from physical dangers or deficiencies, but from our tendency to commit ourselves to personal goals that are too many and too high… In short, much stress arises, ultimately, not from a mismatch between our abilities and the environment’s demands, but from a mismatch between what we desire and what we can have.”13
This should be cause for concern in an age, particularly in Westernized nations, where we place extraordinary value on material assets, wealth, power, and tribal loyalty (national pride).
We no longer have to fear a Saber Toothed Tiger lurking on the edges of the forest clearing as we gather roots. Our fight or flight response in modern times has been redirected toward conflicts with our human brethren over superiority and resources, with little attention given to the toll such a mentality takes on the human mind and body, or the subsequent social ramifications(def).
Bottom line… We’ve created so many divisions and situations which instill fear and trigger our fight or flight response that it’s become too much for us to reason through. THAT leads to stress, conflict, and more fear, which perpetuates and deepens the cycle.
Keep in mind, signs of tribal warfare didn’t show up in the human record until around 10,000 years ago, a full 2,000 years after the advent of Agriculture, and look how common it is now.
Who cares about stress?... We all should
The National Institute of Mental Health points out that “40 million adults in the US are affected by anxiety, and millions more are afflicted with depression-related disorders. Overall… 18% of all adults have some form of mental illness.”12
Here are some additional statistics to be aware of regarding stress:15
- Over 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress
- Somewhere between 75% to 90% of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints
- Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] has declared stress a hazard of the workplace
Stress is arguably the largest killer above all other biological ailments. It’s what WE SHOULD fear more than anything else, not simply because of the statistics above, but because it’s undoubtedly a leading contributor to violence and conflict. We as a people need to learn how to manage stress through healthier actions.
The wrap-up
It’s time for us to acknowledge how fear plays a misleading role in our everyday lives, how fear diminishes our mental and physical health, and how fear contributes to ongoing conflict and divisions between people.
There’s much more to this series, but I’m going to take a break for now. Next time we’ll jump into a discussion about how instincts can lead us astray.
There are a lot of positive outcomes that can arise out of understanding our inherent(def) flaws. More to come!
Your feedback is always welcome in the comments below.
ALL articles in this series:
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 1 of 4) - Intro + Fear & Stress
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 2 of 4) - Instincts can lead us astray
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 3 of 4) - Instincts have fractured us as a species
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 4 of 4) - A horizon of incredible opportunity
#humanity #instinct #bettertogether