CHOOSE BETWEEN CO-OPERATION AND ANNIHILATION: A MENTAL MAPPING PROJECT TOWARDS A MORE GENEROUSLY DIRECTED ALTRUISM Lecture by Associate Professor Irina.

CHOOSE BETWEEN CO-OPERATION AND ANNIHILATION: A

MENTAL MAPPING PROJECT TOWARDS A MORE GENEROUSLY

DIRECTED ALTRUISM

Lecture by Associate Professor Irina Pollard

FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF NATURE ARE BASED ON:

1. COOPERATION

2. BIOLOGICAL FEEDBACK

3. ADAPTATION TO CHANGE BY PROMOTING ECOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; THAT IS, DURING PERIODS OF STRESS RESPOND BY INCREASING THE MUTATION RATE AND BROADEN LATENT POTENTIAL

FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES ARE BASED ON FREE CHOICE, FLEXIBLE INTELLIGENCE AND RISK BALANCING

CO-OPERATION OR COMPETITION?

SPERM COMPETITION THEORY POSITS A POSTCOPULATORY PERSPECTIVE OF SEXUAL SELECTION WHICH STATES THAT AS SPERM COMPETITON INCREASES MALES ARE EXPECTED TO INVEST MORE

SPERM CO-OPERATION

EXAMPLES REPORTED FROM MOLLUSCS, INSECTS, SOUTH AMERICAN MARSUPIALS AND EUTHERIANS INCLUDING ? HUMANS

WOOD MOUSE, HEAD OF SPERM WITH HOOK ATTACHED, TWO ‘HOOKED’ SPERM; SPERM TRAIN. (image from Moore et al, Nature, Vol. 418; July 2002)

WARFARE FITNESS ENHANCEMENT OR LOSING STRATEGY?

THE HOSTILE ACTIONS OF WAR CAN BE PERCEIVED AS ‘ECOCIDE’ OR THE DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE ECOLOGY THAT SUSTAINS LIFE

ON THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF WAR

SINCE THE END OF ‘OPERATION DESERT STORM’ THE PERSIAN GULF AND SURROUNDING REGION HAS WITNESSED A GEOMETRIC INCREASE IN THE PRESENCE OF U.S. ARMED FORCES

ON THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF WAR CONTINUED

MORE AND MORE RESOURCES ARE WASTED ON SOPHISTICATED WEAPONRY CAPABLE OF INCREASED SPEED, LONGER-RANGE ACTIVITY AND SELF-DEPLOYMENT

THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR “INTERNATIONAL COMMONS” IS NOT AN

ADAPTIVE STRATEGYINTERNATIONAL MILITARISM IN THE FORM OF WAR AND PREPARATIONS FOR WAR IS THE GREATEST ONGOING THREAT TO SUSTAINABILITY AND SURVIVAL INTO THE FUTURE

POISONING OUR NEIGHBOUR AND WASTING COMMON COMMODITIES ARE NOT MATTERS OF PRIVACY OR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY; THEY ARE SERIOUS ETHICAL OFFENCES

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON CO-OPERATIVE BEHAVIOUR

‘MAN IS BY NATURE A SOCIAL CREATURE: AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS UNSOCIAL NATURALLY AND NOT ACCIDENTALLY IS EITHER BENEATH OUR NOTICE OR MORE THAN HUMAN. SOCIETY IS SOMETHING IN NATURE THAT PRECEDES THE INDIVIDUAL. ANYONE WHO EITHER CANNOT LEAD THE COMMON LIFE OR IS SO SELF-SUFFICIENT AS NOT TO NEED TO AND THEREFORE DOES NOT PARTAKE OF SOCIETY IS EITHER A BEAST OR A GOD’

ARISTOTLE, 328 B.C.E.

SINCE WE HUMANS ARE BUT ONE MEMBER OF THE EARTH’S DIVERSE COMMUNITIES AND DEPENDENT

ON OUR ECOLOGICAL INTERDEPENDENCE, WE HAVE TO QUICKLY MATURE AS A SPECIES AND EMPLOY BOTH INTELLECTUAL AND EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCESTHEREFORE IT FOLLOWS THAT:

1. IN TERMS OF ETHICS, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS MUST BECOME THE GROUNDING FOR ALL ETHICS – AN ALL-OF-LIFE-CENTRED WORLD VIEW

2. CONCERN FOR THE WELLBEING OF FUTURE GENERATIONS MUST INCLUDE HUMAN AS WELL AS NON-HUMAN BEINGS AS PART OF ETHICS’ ACCOUNTABILITY

3. IF WE DO NOT BECOME ACCOUNTABLE TO THE SUSTAINABLE WELLBEING OF THE WHOLE PLANET, WE WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE UNION OF LIFE

EARTH’S BIOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL COMPONENTS INTERACT AS ONE SELF-SUSTAINING ORGANISM THAT APPEARS TO CREATE THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS TO PROMOTE LIFE’S SUCCESSION (FROM LIFE, LOVE & CHILDREN, PAGE 218)

CO-OPERATIVES ARE BASED ON DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND FUNCTION BY USING ELEMENTS OF ALTRUISM, GENEROSITY AND OPEN-MINDED PRUSUIT OF COMMON GOALS

IN ORDER TO SURVIVE WE MUST STOCK OUR MIND MAP WITH GOODWILL, CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE AND EMOTIONAL WISDOM

THE ROAD TO ECO-JUSTICE IS THE ROAD TO ENLIGHTENMENT

BY USING NATURE’S METHODS WE WILL SURVIVE ADAPTIVELY AND CONTRIBUTE POSITIVELY WITHIN THE UNION OF LIFE

AFTER ALL WE HAVE A HEAD START AS HUMANS ARE THE EVOLUTIONARY GROWING EDGE FOR THE IMPULSE IN NATURE TOWARD CONSCIOUSNESS AND KINDNESS