-----Original Message-----
From: Liath Mactire <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 1998 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: gentlemen? or who are we?
>On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Steven Bissell wrote:
>
>> My position is that we *are* our bodies. If you get a hand chopped off
you a
>> different person, by a factor of exacly one hand. We evolved on this
Earth,
>> we are of this Earth, we are inseperable from this Earth. Our brain is
the
>> organ of awareness, awareness is not outside of the functioning of the
>> brain. The existence or not of a God(dess or Gods) is essentially a
question
>> of astrophysics, if they exist, we'll find them some where, some place,
some
>> time.
>
>Ok, then I have a question. Are we our behavior? Can we seperate who
>we are from what we do? I guess what I'm asking for here is a
>clarification of what is human and further what is human in relation
>to the biosphere?
>
>Liath
>
Geez Liath, you always ask these hard questions. Since I started this I'll
try.
We probably are our behavior to a lesser extent than I intended in my
original post. Taken over our life, our behavior is the expression of lots
of physical functions, including brain function. In so far as our behavior
is adaptive, it is an important part of our evolutionary history. In the
case of humans, the "higher functions" of langauge and our strange ability
to corelate long and short term memory seem to have had major impacts on our
"success" on Earth. They also seem, at the present, to be problems for our
future if we don't change how we are using them.
On an individual basis, I don't know. I do lots of things which I consider
basic to what I am, but I also do lots of things which are trivial. In the
end I guess I'd say that behavior is an outward expression of physiological
function so it's part of who we are.
Kind of a weak answer, read Paul Shepard, I'm mainly just dog-robbing his
ideas.
Steven J. Bissell
http://www.du.edu/~sbissell
http://www.responsivemanagement.com
Our human ecology is that of a rare species of mammal
in a social, omnivorous niche. Our demography is one of
a slow-breeding, large, intelligent primate.
To shatter our population structure, to become abundant
in the way of rodents, not only destroys our ecological
relations with the rest of nature, it sets the stage
for our mass insanity.
Paul Shepard
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