Ancestral Humans and Modern Life: The Outdated Cavepeople Within Us

Currently our human label is 'Homo Sapiens Sapiens' or "wise wise" human. The fact remains however, we still have a few ancestral throw backs to our names. By throw backs I don't mean some of us are less evolved than others even though it might seem that way at times. Rather, by 'throw backs' one is referring to biological mechanisms and social behaviors that don't apply in our modern World.

Biological Throwbacks:

The two most obvious biological throwbacks are our adrenal production and fight or flight reactions to things. In most of today's World there are no Mammoths, packs of Hyenas or other wild threats to our species yet we still produce adrenalin in times of 'tension'. While this may be a good thing it doesn't apply to the modern sources of 'threat' as a huge percent of the time when we are threatened, it is not actually our life that is being threatened making the adrenalin response an overreaction.

Second, the fight or flight response too is a biological overreaction to fear. When we are afraid of something most of the time it is to something our ancestors would have considered trivial. A scary looking Man perhaps or a big truck on the road. The fact is we have more control of our lives than our ancestors could have dreamed of and when we have a fight or flight response it is usually in response to human derived conditions. Most of the time we should not be so afraid of each other as to either 'fight' or run away.

Sociological Throwbacks:

Next are our sociological throwbacks which include 'reciprocal altruism' and 'sex drive'. While sex drive can also be considered a biological/hormonal derivative it can also influence behavior in the form of a powerful 'drive'. As is the case with our biological throw backs these things are not entirely redundant but are designed for a different World. The World for which reciprocal altruism and sex drive was built for was far more animalistic and brutal. We no longer hunt in groups to ensure food for everyone and we no longer have food co-ops where successful hunts are shared with different families. Sure we may have dinner guests or invite a friend out to a meal and even donate food to a soup kitchen, but in most cases it's more for entertainment, networking or ethical living than survival of a species. The same is true of sex drive, our survival as humans is no longer greatly threatened by forces of nature although this does happen at times. There are at least 6 billion of us on the planet now and sex drive and the machismo behavior associated with it, is still relevant in some sense but is also passé in a more modern sense.

Nowadays our biggest threat may come from ourselves and not the God of Thunder or the Kingdom of Beasts. We ensure our survival as a species through civilization which includes job markets, economic regulation, social policy and laws. Gone are the days where we have to run from wild beasts, bring home giant Mammoth heads to impress potential mates and freak out from adrenalin because the car in front of us cut us off on a busy highway. While we are evolved, some of our reactions and behaviors to things are not. Maybe it's time we used those big brains of ours to act our evolutionary age in the era of history in which we live.

Sources:

http://www.enformy.com/$homosap.html
http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/anthro/evolve4/ch/12/welcome.shtml

Disclaimer:

The above article is for anecdotal purposes only and does not necessarily represent the true options and/or beliefs of the author.