I have been reading two books that influenced me to write this monograph on competition and conflict; viz. Total Freedom, a collection of the works of philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Nadeau and Kafatos' book The Non-Local Universe: the new physics and matters of the mind. One could, perhaps, make an argument about fate when the point at which I was in both books was talking about conflict and competition.
Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote "Man has accepted conflict as an innate part of daily existence because he has accepted competition, jealousy, greed as a natural way of life." At the same time Nadeau and Kafatos were talking about competition versus cooperation between species and making the point "While emergent cooperative behaviors within parts (organisms) that maintain conditions of suvival in the whole (environment or ecosystem) appear to be everywhere present in nature, the conditions of observation are such that we distort results when we view any of these systems as isolated." (2)
It was one of those moments when I felt that I am not alone in the universe. Someone else sees the same things I see.
Actually it is far more than just the four of us and a few of my friends who would agree. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
If you follow me or have read any of my previous work this will not be the first time, not the last, that I point the finger of blame for the human slide to perdition in large part on the characteristics, idealogy and/or influence of capitalism. Competition is definitely used and promoted by capitalism.
Before someone starts pointing out the Greek olympics, Roman Circus Maximus, and Mayan ball games where the loser literally lost their hearts, I am not saying that competition is in any way new or unique to capitalism. Capitalism makes great use of competition and wants us to believe that jealousy, greed and competition are a natural way of life.
Capitalism survives on a relatively poorly educated work force that is trained from childhood that to be happy you must work hard; =df be a fierce competitor in the workplace; and spend more money than you earn to buy things which you do not need but which keep the wheels of capitalism turning and the capitalists growing richer. By keeping the workforce as minimally educated as possible they encourage greed and jealousy. Then they preach that the way to fix the greed and jealousy is to be a fierce competitor. It is so obvious and ludicrous that it is almost laughable except . . . it works.
There is really no evidence in nature that greed, jealousy and competition are an inate part of existence. Being a very arrogant species with the ability to abstract, we have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize just about everything. If you don't believe this, go to a Disney animal movie.
I always find it rather ironic that radical, fundamentalist Christians will adamantly deny Darwin while equally adamantly defending many of his theories and concepts. But, of course, that is the religious defense of capitalism. Many modern researchers may not deny evolution as the on-going development of nature but are finding that Darwin's hostile competition between species is not supported by fact and research.
Modern scientific research has realized that Darwin's hostile competition just doesn't exist. In fact, they find a definite cooperation between species.
Biologist V.C. Wynne-Edwards writes, "Setting all pre-conceptions aside, however, and returning to detached assessment of the facts revealed by modern observation and experiment, it becomes almost immediately apparent that a very large part of the regulation of numbers depends not on Darwin's hostile forces but on the initiative taken by the animals themselves; that is to say, to an important extent it is an intinsic phenomenon." (3)
From reading the works of current ethologist it appears that this is achieved by adaptive behavior that divides the habitat into ecological niches where similar species can co-exist. (4) Actually cooperation is the key. This is confirmed by the works of James Gould and Paul Colvinvaux.
Gould, in his book on mechanisms and evolution of behavior, studied African predators and discovered a very efficient non-competitive system in place. He writes that "Carnivores avoid competing by hunting primarily in different places at different times and by using different techniques to capture different segments of the prey population. Cheetahs are unique in their high-speed chase stategy, but as a consequence must specialize on small gazelle. Only the leopards use an ambush strategy, which seems to play no favorites in the prey it chooses. Hyenas and wild dogs are similar, but hunt at different times. And the lion exploits the brute-force niche, depending alternately on short, powerful rushes and strong arm robbery." (5)
Likewise Paul Colvinvaux, in his study of herbivores, found the same avoidance of competition. (6)
Of course this cooperation isn't a conscious effort. There aren't a lot of advantages of being the new kid in the animal kingom. Our fellow creatures tend to have thousands to millions more years of experience than us. The one advantage that we have is that we're the new model. We have a larger cerebral cortex. One of the advanages of a larger cerebral cortex is that it allows us language skills and greater, or perhaps better said, expanded problem solving skills. Our brains have evolved to the point that we have the ability to abstract. That does not forgive our ignorance, or our arrogant refusal to learn from creatures that have survived far longer than us.
While we're at it, we can not overlook the truth that we are the only animal species that will hunt another species to extinction and kill just for pleasure. We think we're so superior, but all of the other species have learned and practice what Mr. Spock so eloquently stated in the movie Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home. "To hunt a species to extinction is illogical." All of the predator species, who do not have our larger cerebral cortex, do not hunt a species to extinction.
When Jiddu Krishnamurti said "Man has accepted conflict as an innate part of daily existence because he has accepted competition, jealousy, greed as a natural way of life." I'm not sure he had capitalism in mind, but, as the old saying goes, "if the shoe fits, wear it."
There is no doubt that we have been indoctrinated with the idea that competition, jealousy and greed are a natural way of life. Reality confronts us with the fact that they are not a natural way of life to any other species on the planet. That should make us question whether or not they are really a natural way of life for humans or whether we have been indoctrinated to accept conflict and the suffering it brings for the benefit of a few who benefit from the suffering they cause.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Krishnamurti, Jiddu
(2) Nadeau, Robert and Menaas Kafatos. 1999. The Non-Local Universe: the new physics and matters of the mind. New York. Oxford Univ Press. p. 118 (electronic edition)
(3) V.C. Wynne-Edwards, "Self-Regulating Systems in Populations and Animals," Science 147 (March 26, 1965): 1543
(4) Ibid. Nadeau and Kafatos. p. 116.
(5) James L. Gould. 1982. Ethology: Mechanisms and evolution of behavior. New York. Norton. p. 467
(6) Paul Colvinvaux. 1978. Why big fierce animals are rare: an ecologist's perspective. Princeton, NJ. Princeton Univ Press. p. 145
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