The neocortex
is responsible for us humans being sentient and capable of reflection on
one's actions. Lions are unable to figure out that the reflection they
see in a mirror is their own. Chimpanzees on the other hand figure it
out in a short time. One of the tests used is to stick something on the
forehead of an animal or child and time the interval before they unstick
it from their own forehead after looking into a mirror. The reflection I
mentioned earlier is not that in a mirror, but the ability to
contemplate, analyze and judge one's own actions.
Evolutionary success is measured by survival and proliferation of one's
genes via offspring. The social insects like bees and ants are examples
of total monopoly of reproduction by a single female queen with willing
co-operation by other female workers without use of physical coercion.
The Queen occupies the bottleneck by pheromonal control of workers who
mostly raise sterile sisters from their mother's eggs by not feeding
them royal jelly. The queen also emits chemicals that keep the workers
suppressed from rebellion. The workers go along because they share
three-quarters of their genes in most cases with their sisters. They
would share only half with their daughters if they could reproduce. They
share only a quarter of their genes with their haploid brothers. Male
bees have a single set of chromosomes which they get only from their
mother as the male eggs are unfertilized. Female bees get one set from
the mother and one from the father as the fertilized eggs alone become
females.
The proclivity to monopolize reproduction is seen in African wild dogs
and hyenas. The dominant female in both cases does not tolerate breeding
by submissive females to a significant extent. Male gorillas have harems
that they guard viciously. A more extreme example are male elephant
seals where 5% or less of the males in a group monopolize all females
dooming the remaining 95% to genetic extinction. A pride of lions
consists of one or two male brothers and a larger number of lionesses.
On occasion the dominant males are dethroned by another pair of lions.
The victors promptly kill all cubs in the pride to bring the lionesses
to estrus by ceased lactation by cub death. The lionesses overlook the
murders of their offspring and happily mate with the victors without
remorse, regret or revenge.
Amongst birds the raising of chicks is a costly time consuming process
requiring large investment from both parents. A bird with the well
deserved name booby lays two eggs in a clutch. Its nest is on the ground
and the parents mark it with their droppings. The earlier hatching chick
pushes the unhatched egg outside the marked circle. The returning
parents ignore the egg outside the Laxmanrekha and remain oblivious to
it as it perishes without hatching. Eagles often lay two eggs
sequentially and not simultaneously. The earlier hatching chick
routinely pecks the smaller and younger chick to death without parental
interference. The second egg or chick was a mere insurance precaution
for eagle parents.
The above behaviors seem callous and the lack of consideration for
brothers, sisters or children is explained on the basis of an absent
neocortex. Our nearest relatives, the chimpanzee females mate with many
males and in the Bonobo species, mating is the preferred pastime. This
leaves any aggressive males uncertain of the fatherhood of offspring.
The males are nice to any female they mated with and her offspring. It
is this trait that we have inherited from our forebears but is fast
disappearing in countries amongst males due to culture and from females
emancipated by oral contraceptives. We have also inherited the penchant
for dominance but the neocortex has tempered this with sympathy for the
underdog and a desire for justice. It has also spawned the beliefs in
god and afterlife as a judge and his final court. The uncertainty of
fatherhood is the basis of Jewishness being defined solely by the
religion of the mother. The desire for dominance is exploited by
corporate advertisers by using celebrities to endorse their products
with near certainty of enough insecure fools falling for the trick. Even
serious criminal convictions do not seem to hamper the marketability of
deranged celebrities in India and America. Socially unacceptable
behavior can be forced by lack of policing and basic facilities. This is
why in India people brazenly drive their scooters on the wrong side of
the road and the poor unabashedly perform their ablutions undeterred or
oblivious of public gaze.
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The neocortex
is responsible for us humans being sentient and capable of reflection on
one's actions. Lions are unable to figure out that the reflection they
see in a mirror is their own. Chimpanzees on the other hand figure it
out in a short time. One of the tests used is to stick something on the
forehead of an animal or child and time the interval before they unstick
it from their own forehead after looking into a mirror. The reflection I
mentioned earlier is not that in a mirror, but the ability to
contemplate, analyze and judge one's own actions.