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Is man a social animal?



“Man is a social animal”- statement, the usage of which is invariably accompanied with “indifference”. This is often used to convey arrogant attitudes of “knowledge”. The blithe ignorance coaxes people to unconsciously hop over to the higher concept level of “assertion” from “facts” without actually pausing at the intermediate; “opinion”.

It is accepted to be a common knowledge that man is in fact a social animal. The disconcerting fact is the levels of acceptance, the “numerical munificence” is partly contributed by the lot that are just careless, secondly by the lot that are just too busy, and finally by a niche of perpetrators, who have come to be recognized as artists. For the lack of a better word, I would refer these pseudo-artists by an ultra-appropriate collective whole - “the myopic “.

“The myopic” establish connection with the common man through various conventional systems. These systems are so refined and sophisticated that for a common man it becomes utterly inconceivable to think that there ever was a man's life that proceeded the establishments- “language instinct”, “making tools” and “farming”.

An early man of “Solitude” wandered in forests with all but one collective aim - “eat and procreate”. First half of the collective is the prime mover of our “predatory” instincts. The second half of the collective though often mistakenly identified as a precursor of “sexual” instincts is in fact a thread of premise on which the life on this planet dangles precariously. It logically thus follows; the two halves of collective aim support each other to an extent that each can fill in the void caused by other's absence for brief intervals.

A “just born” baby crocodile is well equipped to swim, a baby bird begins flying in a matter of few weeks, a baby elephant incredibly stands on its four legs and begins to walk for himself in a couple of days after birth. A human infant on the other hand is so ill equipped that the mother takes care of him throughout the period of lactation and it’s only after another year that the infant starts to walk.

For a “just born” human infant to “break even” with the majority of species on the planet, it would require a human mother to carry the baby in her womb for over 2 years. But the size of a human brain makes this feat humanly impossible at the time of conception.

Sharks and dolphins of same body weight differ in their brain mass; dolphins have bigger brains over their contemporaries. Humans have an unparalleled brain size, which as scientists assert is a quality that bestows us with abilities to develop complex establishments- “language instinct”, “making tools” and “farming”.

To answer this evolutionary predicament, humans have evolved into timing the conception earlier than their contemporaries thereby winning in the race of brain size.

Although the infant is shamelessly “incompetent” and overtly “vulnerable”, the investment in the form of an uncomfortable conception owing to large brain size and the extra effort in the period of “lactation” are well recognized by parents in the remarkable victory of large brain size attained in the process.

The early man of “solitude” in fear of predators and the need to feed him, with no obvious external “anatomical benefits” as the wild animals relied on his sole advantage; brain size, the advantage that was granted to him with the weight of millions of years of evolution, an advantage that demanded “patience” and “courage” of a human mother. With the extra large brain, the man of “solitude” developed language in times of inevitability.

The man of “solitude” in wild and chaotic times developed skills that would put him at a reasonable advantage in pursuing his collective aim- “eat and procreate”. The skills or equipments - “language instinct”, “making tools” and “farming” were a giant leap for the species to rip past the corridors of “uncertainty”.

An endeavor that began with the naive necessity of finding himself in a “certain” position of pursuing his collective aim- “eat and procreate” when established, led to certain dubious results. The pursuit required that the humans live together so to gain a certain authority over their predators and to share their hardships, although the pursuit in itself was realized by the man of “solitude”.

This followed by men of “solitude” indulging in artistic adventures and the men of “social proclivities” to indulge in acts of superficial wantons. Men with differences in “artistic expression” dug niches for themselves, albeit living in the conformity of the whole- “solitude”.

With the passage of time, men of “solitude” furthered their artistic pursuits towards the doors of men with “social proclivities”, this ambitious alliance resulted in “pretentious art”, one which was found, realized, defined and practiced exclusively by the men of “social proclivities”. At this point in time, there were men in the chambers of “solitude” who felt offended with the “pretentious art”, while others felt ignored.

The mixed bag of reactions led the men of “solitude” to emphatically entrench themselves in their pre-crafted niches. As the gulf between the men exacerbated at one end, others were busying themselves with adding “false credence” to “pretentious art”.

Today, tempestuous colloquialism among men of “social proclivities” is embraced merrily by the insiders and ignored as an act of “superficial wanton” by those living on the outside. But the fashionable addiction to “superficial wanton” has extended itself into the territories of “solitude” chocking the men in it.

The hitherto indifferent attitude of “solitude” men is now under pressure and some of them have time and again come outside with a genuine interest in bridging the disparities in intellectual levels. This outcome can be seen in deeply passionate scientific proponents endeavoring to disseminate their scientific findings to the lay man.

But, owing to the inherent attitude, men of “pretentious art” have tried to improve their mileage of “acquired authority” by frequently pouring scorn on the pure and impersonal scientific advocacy.

With the absence of content appropriated authority, men of “pretentious art” stake on murky activities targeting the passionate results of the “solitude” lot, such as commenting on science, commenting on the carefully thought out philosophical stands, commenting on genuine artistic expressions frequently labeling them “obscene”, commenting on instinct driven curious forms of art, commenting on free-speech and many others.

“Man is a social animal” is one such comment. This illogical generalization is one of many that stand “head to shoulders” over many veritable forms of art, supported almost exclusively by the numerical preponderance of acquittal from the men of “pretentious art”.

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