As IF Times

link Obesity? Big Feet? Blame Darwin – WSJ.com.

In my opinion, an interesting article on some theories of human evolution.  Most of the discussion is about physical transformations and adaptations, but little is said about mental development.  If you had to guess, based on some of the theories put forth in the article, much of our thought processes must be linked somehow to tribal instincts as well.

Consider the propensity for people to rally around “heroes” in any field, be it entertainment, sports or politics.  There seems to be a natural urge to follow behind some figurehead, many of whom if analyzed logically, would be irrational choices.  Maybe there is some primitive urge on the part of people to coalesce as a tribal unit that’s at play here.  It may go a long way to explain some of the absurdities of some of today’s modern “heroes”.  There is of course the more simpler explanation that we gravitate to and support people who most resemble ourselves or aspired image of selves.  

While this may be valid for sports figures, it’s hard to stretch this explanation to cover political figures, especially with the dismal records most have.  Really, John Edwards aspirants? In the case of Barack Obama, one could argue his “differentness” attracted support among visible minorities.  If such is the case, why wouldn’t  non minorities vote for exclusively for the white guy?  Clearly in politics, “sameness” may not be the uniting glue of support.  Economics and quid pro quo may be  more determining factors. 

Is delusion a part of human evolution?  Do people suspend their individual power of reasoning against all evidence to support a tribal leader? In earlier times, maybe, since information would be harder to obtain than in our modern times.  Presumably, anyone now can get access to the facts on any issue and come to a rational conclusion, yet there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  An obvious example is the state of pensions in the United States, or perhaps for that matter, in Canada.  When the numbers are crunched, there is no possible way that public pensions will be able to pay out monies owed to beneficiaries when the time comes.  Yet, people willfully support candidates that tell them otherwise.  On the one hand, theory of evolution says that organisms will adapt for survival, but in the example just mentioned, people are consciously ignoring a fatal conclusion.  Maybe somewhere in the gene pool, some lemming DNA got thrown into the mix.

Modern western society may celebrate the individual in advertising and culture, but really, it appears as if we can’t really escape our evolutionary pull.  Groupthink is still in the genes.

Kids and Killer Hot Dogs? 3 Tips to Prevent Choking on Food – On Parenting usnews.com.

Sounds reasonable.  I suppose hot dogs as a dangerous food for kids can rank right up there with such hazards as running with scissors or playing with firecrackers.   The real question is at what age range do the warning labels apply on this newly labelled death food?  Presumably, nobody is stupid enough to feed hot dogs to children until they have teeth, so that would exclude the under 1 year crowd.  At some point, the parents  have to take their eyes off the kid when he’s eating, because if they have to monitor every chew up until they feel it’s safe for junior to eat unsupervised, the parents may want to stay with the pablum or should consider getting the kid tested for IQ deficiency. 

I mean if the kid hasn’t mastered bite, chew, swallow by the age of 10, the odds are high that long division will be a challenge and saving for college is probably unnecessary.   No doubt, upon the heels of this recommendation from the American pediatric group, a veritable phonebook sized list of hazardous foods will be released to worried parents.  In the legal world, this creates another opportunity, because if some ill fate should befall someone’s child resulting from eating food items on this list, well, let’s just say someone’s kids will be going to college.

Has anyone noticed the eerie resemblance that kids these days bear to domesticated pets?  They both live in controlled environments, have regimented food and receive over the top fawning and preening.  Our western society is raising bubble kids, children who live in protected cocoons until some vague time of adulthood when they are allowed to go into the world.  Like domesticated pets though, many of these kids are unable to fend for themselves once out, depending on parents for the most mundane things.  Can you imagine if in nature, birds were not taught to fend for themselves and instead hung around the family nest?  You’d have birds nests the size of trampolines and you certainly wouldn’t park your car under one of those.

It’s very ironic that parents of kids today are themselves the tail end of the baby boom, people who were given lavish attention and nurturing during their time as kids because of the post war mentality of their parents.  This generation was also about drugs, free love, do what feels good yada yada yada, but now themselves are hovering over their own brood like over-bearing  nannies.

Back to the hot dogs;, while we don’t feed food to kids shaped like grapple hooks, to all of a sudden post warning labels on hot dogs after decades of consumption is nannyish in the  extreme.  What are we supposed to eat at ball games? Kibble? All I can say is, if this warning takes hold, lots of ears, snouts and eyelids will go to waste.  I guess there’s always baloney.