Mrs. Darth Vader
05-05-2010, 01:56
Chapter ten deals with over population. Sagan starts right at the beginning of this chapter telling about when an organism evolves so well the sex organs, it reproduces so much that it eats up all the food supply whether this supply be nutrients or prey, it will die. An organism can make too many of itself. This over population leads to dwindling resources. Sagan gives a cold hard truth about natural selection of an individual family of opossums. He tells the tale about how the opossum has 13 teats (nipples) but the opossum usually has more than 13 pups. So right from birth siblings have to compete for food access. At each feeding the stronger pups push away the less aggressive pups. With each feeding the weak pups or pup gets weaker until it dies. Natural selection ruthlessly weeds out the weak. This harsh process ensures survival of the species. Species that have more nipples than young waste effort because the weak are allowed to grow up and become adults which means reproduce.
Sagan then goes back to the over population issue. He sights an experiment done to Norway Rats. John B. Calhoun let the rats breed in an enclosure of a fixed size and allowed the population density to get very high. He made sure all the rats were well fed thus removing scarcity from the equation. Usually in over population situations scarcity is in the mix but this experiment was to see what over population by itself would do. Sagan then sights the results and it was chilling. The rats increased in abnormal behaviors. Nursing mothers became easily distracted and abandoned their infants. As a result the infants would die. Rats passing by the dead infants would eat them even though they had a good food supply given by John Calhoun. Cannibalism obviously happened which usually does not. An adult female rat in heat would be chased by a pack of males. Usually the rat gets one. This gang rape behavior is not common to rats in normal conditions. Female rats died giving birth and other reproductive problems surfaced. The rats lost the ability to build nests like they normally do. The dominant aggressive males would periodically go berserk. Other rats went crazy by being hyperactive, hypersexual, bisexual and cannibalistic. They started to kill and eat each other. Usually rats in the wild if it gets crowded they move to another location to start a fresh where less rats live.
Sagan was nervous about the implications in this experiment because he tries to remind us that we are not rats but at the same time Sagan sights evidence of problems in human communities where over population is a factor. Interestingly enough we did not fare better than the rats. Sagan then states what is happening now, outbreaks of street and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, soaring infant mortality, parents leaving their infants in trash cans, maternal mortality, gang rape, psychosis, increased homosexuality and hyper sexuality, gay bashing, alienation, rootlessness and a decline in domestic skills. All these things are evident in our society today so like the rats we are not doing any better under over population. Added to this list is warring tribes or factions. Mass killing in Africa. Sagan was very uncomfortable with these findings Even though the rat experiment is so known. There is even a catch phrase that people use to express the results of this experiment in a nutshell. I am sure some of you who are old enough to remember the phrase “Trapped Rat” theory.
Sagan then tells us that from an evolutionary stand point this maladaptive behavior has a purpose and that is to bring to balance the population levels. These odd behaviors continue until population levels are brought back to the right level. Humans engage in wars and massacres to bring population levels down. The greater the population density the more challenges for dominance and killing of the young. High population density in Howler Monkeys mean dominance take over’s by alien males. They also do whole sale slaughter of resident infants. In the wild animals that asses that they can not win the fight for dominancy leave and look for more suitable areas where populations are low. This is natures escape valve. Sagan in the small print on the bottom of the page reminds us that males are not the only ones to kill infants on mass scales. In female dominated societies of animals the female is the aggressive one and the males raise the young. Here in female dominated societies it is the female who kills the infants due to over population. Here is an example where the female is the aggressor. Who is aggressive is who is boss. Over crowding means that even the strong and fit can die in lethal combat. Nature in normal times usually do antics and threatening gestures or postures. The stronger male lets the weaker male know he can not win by doing these gestures. Lethal combat rarely happens under normal conditions. Nature has a system built in that avoids lethal combat because this keeps the species going. The looser either becomes submissive or leaves seeking his luck else where.
Sagan then talks about how animals mark their turf. Leaving their scent around is an animals way of claiming their turf. After telling you all the ways an animal marks it’s property, including another of it’s kind that is it’s submissive, Sagan then tells you all the gestures that is done to keep the stranger out or let a rival male know it better not try to take over my dominant position. You could swoop down on him, bare your teeth and growl. The reason fights do not turn into mortal combat but rarely, is because the price tag is too high for both winner and looser. The reason is clear. If fighting is for jurisdictional disputes always ended mortally the species in question would extinguish itself. Instead bluff, deception and a vivid pantomime of what violence you will do to the intruder or challenger is good enough. After Sagan tells about the behaviors of the dominant males/ or females, he then switches to the other side of the perspective, the submissive and their gestures. The submissive gestures are as you would guess opposite of the aggressive gestures. Submissive gestures are avoiding eye contact with the dominant one, absolute motionlessness, bowing where front legs are bent so the rump sticks up. The head is lowered. Laying belly up or any other kind of gesture that exposes vital organs. Usually when the vital organs are exposed by the submissive, the dominant animal then does something magnanimous by gesture. Aggression between rivals of the same species is usually bluff; but aggression towards the prey is deadly and the intent is to kill..
Then Sagan describes the gestures of your average house cat in rival situations. This familiar scene is one we will have witnessed at least once. The cat arches it’s back, fur stands on end and the eyes dilate. Of course this scene is usually accompanied by that horrible yowling noise the cat makes and hissing. Sagan then states that your cat suddenly appears bigger and more dangerous. Sagan then contrasts the rival scene with it’s hunting posture. When your cat is hunting prey, it even looks different. The hair is close to the body as possible. The ears go back and lowered. The cat sneaks and stalks it’s prey being totally silent as opposed to the noisy encounter with a rival. The cat pounces suddenly coming out of no where at it’s prey. Then kills and eats it.
Sagan then switches to the Blue Heron and it’s mating practice. The species only continues because of the patients of the female. The male is far too aggressive and fickle. Here is an example where too much aggression works against your species. Here is where you are reminded about the balance between aggression and gentleness. The male is confused between it’s desire to mate and it’s aggressive behavior. The male will first try to court the female but as soon as she shows interest the male will turn and attack shooing her away. This can repeat itself several times before finally the male mates with the female. Sagan then gives you the idea that the male’s over aggression boarders on causing extinction of the blue heron species. Here it is the female that gets the credit for species continuance.
Sagan then gives the example of a “smart” bird that instinctually knows to choose another target instead of locking on with it’s rival. The Cockerel has pecks and spurs that are deadly but he will choose to peck at a pebble rather than continue to fight his rival. This idea of substituting a non-living object in the rivals place saves the species from deadly confrontations. This is like when two men start to slug it out, then one suddenly turns away from the fight and hit’s a punching bag. This releases the cockerel’s anger as it would the man. It also is a safety valve in nature to protect the species.
Sagan then talks about the “buttons” we all have that can trigger an angry aggressive response. The same is true for animals. These responses are triggered by an outside stimulus but are hardwired in. From here Sagan admits that aggression is hereditary. Passive and peaceful is also hereditary. Sagan gives the example of dogs. Some are breed for aggression like the pit bull. Others like the cocker spaniel are breed for peacefulness.
Sagan then talks about cooperative hunting by predators in order to get prey. In all social animals there is an in group and an out group. The in group is cooperative and they help each other. The out group they treat ruthlessly. Even if the out group is of the same species the in group will still treat the out group ruthlessly. We humans here have the exact same dynamic as the animals. With in America there are many “clicks” or groupings of people that are an in group and they ruthlessly persecute the out group. Sagan then explains how the in group out group thing works. By hating and focusing on the enemy it makes those in the in group over look all the faults and short comings in your group. This is a good distraction especially if you do not want to have to fix any problems in your group. Our politicians do this well by finding which group in our country is to be considered lazy or a bum. If we focus on the bum and treat him ruthlessly we are not looking at what really should be done. Here is where the politicians use our evolutionary encoding against us. The Christian right relies heavily on this in group out group hatred to keep their ranks closed and loyal. This way they never have to be bothered with consistency with the Bible and their ruthless actions. This tactic works every time because we all unite against a dreaded enemy.
Sagan then ends this chapter with a chilling lesson on imprinting. He gives the example of ducklings that when they are in the egg, whoever is incubating the eggs, that is the voice they will follow and consider mom. If the incubator is a human, than they will follow the human. Sagan then takes the natural leap and shows how humans are “brainwashed” if you start young enough. They are too young to discriminate what is taught. They are open to be told who to love and who to hate. This of course goes hand in glove with the in group out group thing. Sagan then closes with the notion that aggression is part of who we are. The trick is to keep it in check as to not cause extinction.
Sagan then goes back to the over population issue. He sights an experiment done to Norway Rats. John B. Calhoun let the rats breed in an enclosure of a fixed size and allowed the population density to get very high. He made sure all the rats were well fed thus removing scarcity from the equation. Usually in over population situations scarcity is in the mix but this experiment was to see what over population by itself would do. Sagan then sights the results and it was chilling. The rats increased in abnormal behaviors. Nursing mothers became easily distracted and abandoned their infants. As a result the infants would die. Rats passing by the dead infants would eat them even though they had a good food supply given by John Calhoun. Cannibalism obviously happened which usually does not. An adult female rat in heat would be chased by a pack of males. Usually the rat gets one. This gang rape behavior is not common to rats in normal conditions. Female rats died giving birth and other reproductive problems surfaced. The rats lost the ability to build nests like they normally do. The dominant aggressive males would periodically go berserk. Other rats went crazy by being hyperactive, hypersexual, bisexual and cannibalistic. They started to kill and eat each other. Usually rats in the wild if it gets crowded they move to another location to start a fresh where less rats live.
Sagan was nervous about the implications in this experiment because he tries to remind us that we are not rats but at the same time Sagan sights evidence of problems in human communities where over population is a factor. Interestingly enough we did not fare better than the rats. Sagan then states what is happening now, outbreaks of street and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, soaring infant mortality, parents leaving their infants in trash cans, maternal mortality, gang rape, psychosis, increased homosexuality and hyper sexuality, gay bashing, alienation, rootlessness and a decline in domestic skills. All these things are evident in our society today so like the rats we are not doing any better under over population. Added to this list is warring tribes or factions. Mass killing in Africa. Sagan was very uncomfortable with these findings Even though the rat experiment is so known. There is even a catch phrase that people use to express the results of this experiment in a nutshell. I am sure some of you who are old enough to remember the phrase “Trapped Rat” theory.
Sagan then tells us that from an evolutionary stand point this maladaptive behavior has a purpose and that is to bring to balance the population levels. These odd behaviors continue until population levels are brought back to the right level. Humans engage in wars and massacres to bring population levels down. The greater the population density the more challenges for dominance and killing of the young. High population density in Howler Monkeys mean dominance take over’s by alien males. They also do whole sale slaughter of resident infants. In the wild animals that asses that they can not win the fight for dominancy leave and look for more suitable areas where populations are low. This is natures escape valve. Sagan in the small print on the bottom of the page reminds us that males are not the only ones to kill infants on mass scales. In female dominated societies of animals the female is the aggressive one and the males raise the young. Here in female dominated societies it is the female who kills the infants due to over population. Here is an example where the female is the aggressor. Who is aggressive is who is boss. Over crowding means that even the strong and fit can die in lethal combat. Nature in normal times usually do antics and threatening gestures or postures. The stronger male lets the weaker male know he can not win by doing these gestures. Lethal combat rarely happens under normal conditions. Nature has a system built in that avoids lethal combat because this keeps the species going. The looser either becomes submissive or leaves seeking his luck else where.
Sagan then talks about how animals mark their turf. Leaving their scent around is an animals way of claiming their turf. After telling you all the ways an animal marks it’s property, including another of it’s kind that is it’s submissive, Sagan then tells you all the gestures that is done to keep the stranger out or let a rival male know it better not try to take over my dominant position. You could swoop down on him, bare your teeth and growl. The reason fights do not turn into mortal combat but rarely, is because the price tag is too high for both winner and looser. The reason is clear. If fighting is for jurisdictional disputes always ended mortally the species in question would extinguish itself. Instead bluff, deception and a vivid pantomime of what violence you will do to the intruder or challenger is good enough. After Sagan tells about the behaviors of the dominant males/ or females, he then switches to the other side of the perspective, the submissive and their gestures. The submissive gestures are as you would guess opposite of the aggressive gestures. Submissive gestures are avoiding eye contact with the dominant one, absolute motionlessness, bowing where front legs are bent so the rump sticks up. The head is lowered. Laying belly up or any other kind of gesture that exposes vital organs. Usually when the vital organs are exposed by the submissive, the dominant animal then does something magnanimous by gesture. Aggression between rivals of the same species is usually bluff; but aggression towards the prey is deadly and the intent is to kill..
Then Sagan describes the gestures of your average house cat in rival situations. This familiar scene is one we will have witnessed at least once. The cat arches it’s back, fur stands on end and the eyes dilate. Of course this scene is usually accompanied by that horrible yowling noise the cat makes and hissing. Sagan then states that your cat suddenly appears bigger and more dangerous. Sagan then contrasts the rival scene with it’s hunting posture. When your cat is hunting prey, it even looks different. The hair is close to the body as possible. The ears go back and lowered. The cat sneaks and stalks it’s prey being totally silent as opposed to the noisy encounter with a rival. The cat pounces suddenly coming out of no where at it’s prey. Then kills and eats it.
Sagan then switches to the Blue Heron and it’s mating practice. The species only continues because of the patients of the female. The male is far too aggressive and fickle. Here is an example where too much aggression works against your species. Here is where you are reminded about the balance between aggression and gentleness. The male is confused between it’s desire to mate and it’s aggressive behavior. The male will first try to court the female but as soon as she shows interest the male will turn and attack shooing her away. This can repeat itself several times before finally the male mates with the female. Sagan then gives you the idea that the male’s over aggression boarders on causing extinction of the blue heron species. Here it is the female that gets the credit for species continuance.
Sagan then gives the example of a “smart” bird that instinctually knows to choose another target instead of locking on with it’s rival. The Cockerel has pecks and spurs that are deadly but he will choose to peck at a pebble rather than continue to fight his rival. This idea of substituting a non-living object in the rivals place saves the species from deadly confrontations. This is like when two men start to slug it out, then one suddenly turns away from the fight and hit’s a punching bag. This releases the cockerel’s anger as it would the man. It also is a safety valve in nature to protect the species.
Sagan then talks about the “buttons” we all have that can trigger an angry aggressive response. The same is true for animals. These responses are triggered by an outside stimulus but are hardwired in. From here Sagan admits that aggression is hereditary. Passive and peaceful is also hereditary. Sagan gives the example of dogs. Some are breed for aggression like the pit bull. Others like the cocker spaniel are breed for peacefulness.
Sagan then talks about cooperative hunting by predators in order to get prey. In all social animals there is an in group and an out group. The in group is cooperative and they help each other. The out group they treat ruthlessly. Even if the out group is of the same species the in group will still treat the out group ruthlessly. We humans here have the exact same dynamic as the animals. With in America there are many “clicks” or groupings of people that are an in group and they ruthlessly persecute the out group. Sagan then explains how the in group out group thing works. By hating and focusing on the enemy it makes those in the in group over look all the faults and short comings in your group. This is a good distraction especially if you do not want to have to fix any problems in your group. Our politicians do this well by finding which group in our country is to be considered lazy or a bum. If we focus on the bum and treat him ruthlessly we are not looking at what really should be done. Here is where the politicians use our evolutionary encoding against us. The Christian right relies heavily on this in group out group hatred to keep their ranks closed and loyal. This way they never have to be bothered with consistency with the Bible and their ruthless actions. This tactic works every time because we all unite against a dreaded enemy.
Sagan then ends this chapter with a chilling lesson on imprinting. He gives the example of ducklings that when they are in the egg, whoever is incubating the eggs, that is the voice they will follow and consider mom. If the incubator is a human, than they will follow the human. Sagan then takes the natural leap and shows how humans are “brainwashed” if you start young enough. They are too young to discriminate what is taught. They are open to be told who to love and who to hate. This of course goes hand in glove with the in group out group thing. Sagan then closes with the notion that aggression is part of who we are. The trick is to keep it in check as to not cause extinction.