Jonathan Doron
Seminar in Composition
Dr. Adam Johns
October 7, 2008
What are Humans For?
“What are humans for?” This question demands us to question the very essence of our being. Why are we here? What is our purpose? While most people would contemplate the answer to this question for a lifetime, I already know the answer; and, if your body is completely functional, you should know the answer to. We are not here for love, nor are we here for a divine purpose. We are here for the same exact reason as every other organism on this earth, and that is to survive and reproduce. “We aren’t special.” (McKibben, 205). These words, though sarcastically written by Bill McKibben, are actually true.
“Soon it found that all living creatures shared the same sort of DNA molecules and used the same coding scheme… Even Worse, we humans shared regulatory genes, relatively unchanged, with animals as simple as flies. There were even close relationships between some genes in humans and in yeast.” (McKibben, 205) That’s right; you and I, the “oh-so-powerful” humans that we are, are ultimately comprised as the same tiny macromolecules as those annoying, little flies that buzz by our ears. Now ask yourself, “What is a fly’s purpose in this world?” Most people would probably say something along the lines of, “Just to stay alive and make more annoying little flies so that they can continue to annoy us forever.” Well, if we’re made up of the same stuff, why do we consider ourselves to be any different?
Now, let’s say you see an extremely attractive member of the opposite sex walking down the street. Do you say to yourself, “Wow, I wish I could fall in love with that person and live a long, meaningful life with him/her?” or do you really say “Wow, I would really love to…” (You could probably figure out what comes next). Anyway, when you see that really attractive person, your body becomes aroused. Your blood pressure rises, your breathing rate rises, and you become flushed. Obviously this is a bit exaggerated considering we’re talking about walking past someone on the street, but essentially, your body is preparing itself for sexual intercourse. We are physiologically designed to reproduce. Of course if only this was true, humans would be uncontrollably reproducing at every waking moment, so we have psychological constrains. (It would be appropriate to mention that our psychological behaviors are controlled by neurons and the brain, both of which are composed of cells, which contain the same macromolecules as our close friend, yeast). Most humans don’t have sex with every attractive individual they meet; we’re selective about who we “do it” with, and of course it “has to be the right time”. This is because we want to ensure that both the humans would be cared for so that they can survive from day to day (bringing home the bread) and so that the offspring can be raised to produce even more offspring.
Now that I’ve established that we’re all just machines of reproduction, I have to point out that we were also built to survive. If you ever want to the true essence of human nature, try starving a person for a while. Then you’ll see what humans are really made to do. It’s amazing what a person will do for food if starved. Of course, if a person starves, he dies, and if a person dies, he can’t reproduce… rendering him essentially useless in the concept of life as a whole.
If a person is cold, he shivers. This is an automatic response by the body to prevent the core body temperature dropping too low for survival. If a person is too hot, he sweats; another automatic response by the body so that the person doesn’t die. Where does love fit into all of this? Love is just a psychologically created emotion so that humans are encouraged to find a mate to reproduce with, and to help each other survive.
“Darwin shattered that conception as well—we weren’t special, we were, in the words of Gregory Paul and Earl Cox, just “souped-up apes…”” (McKibben, 204). Humans are here for the same exact reason as everything else, from the amoeba to the great blue whale; to live long enough to reproduce.
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2 comments:
I like your quotes from McKibben. But if we are not here for emotions then why do we have them? Why have the feelings of love if all we are here for is to reproduce and survior? Yes the basics of humans are to do this but why have everythign else if they are not needed.
I liked your idea though. You got to the point and you made me giggle during the reproducing paragraph. Good ideas and they are organized well.
Jessica - Your questions are fine. They would have been more effective if you'd fleshed them out, though - showing where we could/should go next.
Jonathan - This is well written and tightly focused from beginning to end. Personally, I especially enjoyed the sarcastic tone, although I'm prejudiced, since I read lots of papers and any sort of variety is always appreciated.
Despite the effectiveness and tight focus of the paper, Jessica's questions, while only a start, are spot on. One can certainly argue (as, for instance, evolutionary psychologists do) that complex emotions are directly in the service of the goals of reproduction and survival. But such arguments need to be a little more complicated. One important starting point here is that it takes roughly 15-20 years (depending on lots of factors) to raise kids who in turn are able to reproduce - you might have done a *slightly* more detailed job of arguing that complex emotions and institutions serve our fundamental urges, and that we need this complexity because of such factors as the long, long, long time that human children remain vulnerable.
This is good, but errs a little on the side of simplicitly.
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