Is it an evolutionary necessity that
all babies are born selfish and power-seeking?
Is it possible for the young to survive in the world without a "me first" attitude and a need to create their own power dyads that places them at the center of attention at the power core?
If children
require selfishness and power to survive, where then, does one draw the line between spoiling the child and creating the independent adult?
At what age -- or during which milestone -- must the cord be forever cut to avoid the result of the ordinary, meandering, narcissistic, tepid, adult?
If the correction from selfishness and power-seeking is never healed in childhood -- what becomes of the adult -- and how can the rest of us avoid be punished for the child abuse perpetuated on babies that wrongly place them, and others like them, at the center of an inhuman universe where they can do no wrong while the sun rises and sets on their shrugging shoulders?
No they are not born selfish they are born vulnerable. As they grow older and acquire skills and develop their own sense of wants and needs we can then encourage them bit by bit to be self reliant. When they have learnt to do "a" then you can move onto "B" and perhaps "C" as well.
Leading them and showing them by example - and practising what you preach is the best way forward - it takes a lot of commitment - but can be very rewarding.
Hi Nicola --
I guess I was hoping for a more evolutionary discussion here: Babies are certainly vulnerable and is that why they cry and misbehave when not given proper attention and prefer the protection of one parent over the other?
If that might be so, then taking the next step in language and calling those identifiers selfish and power-seeking brings a new context to the innate behavior of babies before they can communicate. They look like their parents. They use laughter and their helplessness to control those stronger and more powerful than they are -- it's an amazing feat to evolutionarily trick people into viewing you as vulnerable, especially when they are, in fact, being controlled by your cries and calls.
You are correct about the way they control your life/lives - is this behaviour limited to humans or is it cross species ?
Hi Nicola!
That's what I'm trying to figure out. I know in Baboon tribes if the male leader is replaced, the new dominant male will kill all the other baboon infants he did not father in order to protect the order of his new dominance.
It's as if male baboons know the young are there to inherit the roles of the establishment despite their vulnerability and ineptitude if foraging for themselves... and if you want to maintain your own selfish power base, you need to kill all non-related comers and foreigners.
I am sure there are other animal groups where the young males are expelled - trying to trawl through memories of natural history programs.
One is also reminded of the story of Herod - killing all the male children so he could eliminate Jesus.
And the last paragraph could also point towards the Holocaust.
Nicola --
Yes, those examples are quite telling and important! Are we learning from the animal kingdom or did the animals learn from us?
You're right that the destruction of others appears to be an inborn, involuntary, response and not a learned one. It takes a certain amount of human bravery to want to propagate your DNA into the future while realizing those around you are trying to do the same, selfish, thing to retain power and influence.
So, I think, babies are born selfish and power-seeking and while infanticide is frowned upon in the darkest terms across the history of humanity, the rationale behind the act of repressing future competition is quite an intimidating concept to comprehend.
I suspect we learnt it as animals and developed it in our own particular way.
Your second paragraph triggers all kinds of thoughts and debates about population numbers and religious, ethnic and racial phenomena.
Is the Catholic ban on contraception more aimed at producing more Catholics ( than protestants) for instance. It is said by some of the political scaremongers in this country that because of the Muslim family size that in *X* number of years there will be more Muslims in the UK than *English * people.
I must admit I never looked at my ability to produce children at the drop of a hat in that light before!
Is it the babies that are selfish and power seeking - or is it the parents producing them?
Excellent analysis, Nicola!
Any religion relies on its members to propagate in order to auto-indoctrinate new members. Bringing Catholicism to "The South" is vital in keeping that belief rich and alive and one begins to wonder when the power structure in the Vatican will shift to reflect the faces of those members:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0405/p01s03-wogi.html
Mormonism, 7th Day Aventism and other fundamentalist religions all encourage populating the world with children to increase their power core.
Parents are definitely selfish and power-seeking and they prove it by bringing children into a world that doesn't need more mouths to feed -- but they do it because they are driven to it even though they realize the open mouths they are feeding will one day be bent on replacing them in the power structure.
It appears, from an evolutionary viewpoint, that even though we know our children are able to plot and thwart against us, we cannot deny the animal urge to reproduce against our better intentions.
Shwhew!
I was in "server maintenance" heck for about an hour. My comment wouldn't post. I'm glad everything seems to be working again.