"Its a hard day today, got a presentation to make in front of the biggest client of my company. I will impress him and blow the audience off their heads..I will make the biggest break for my company.. Yeah, this is the biggest break, I can ever have.. I will make the most of it, the best of it. My boss is going to love me for this.., Its the biggest break he will ever have too, all because of ME"
Haven't we heard this before, be it a presentation, or making an impression on the lovely neighbor or while getting big marks in a competitive class. Its a common situation for the today's professional (or to be). For some, it comes daily while for many, it comes regularly. What makes us think this way? To answer this, one probably has to look at evolution of mankind.
Gorillas Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Humans all are a derivatives from the family of hominidae (Great Apes) . There are a lot of similarities when these species are compared among them. Gorillas have exhibited "group life", sign-language, protectionism, leadership, Intelligence, tool-usage, bipedal locomotor adaptation (walking on two legs) and in fact even face-face sex (once thought unique only to humans). In its natural habitat, the babies are always protected, instructed, nurtured, groomed and touched by the mother. This is true to all the four extant genera. However, the apes from the green forests do not have the concept of homes. They are always travelling with the group but very territorial about their current location. The leader protects the group and also assist the others in localizing to the location until they all decide to move on to a new one.
Big Cats or the genus Panthera, comprise of Lions, Tigers, Jaguars and Leopards species. Having no physical similarity from the humans, these cats exhibit behavioral similarities. Living in Groups (Prides) and also as Nomads, these cats live together in the pride area. These cats exhibit sociality in a very pronounced way. The lionesses hunt in teams and exhibit team work, strategy during the hunt, while playing various other roles (permanently & temporarily) of raising the cubs. The hunters are given a priority over the non-hunters with the meal sharing and the hunters share the catch by dragging the cadaver to their pride area. Also exhibiting other qualities like kin selection (better to share food with known than with a stranger), protection of young and weak, leadership, maintenance of territories.
Homo Sapiens (Humans) though originate directly from the primates and share a considerable number of similar qualities with the other great apes, He has also evolved over time, developed a much larger brain and grabbed many useful qualities from other families like that of the Big Cats. Building on his strengths like intelligence, grip, tool-making and using abilities, he manipulated his weaknesses, his reduced stamina, the lack of a natural hunting build into very effective traits to hunt, to kill, to conquer and to control. While doing all this he did one more thing which becomes very important in this context, He developed an illusion, an illusion of "being in control" and "being free"...
...To be Continued
