well School is back in session, my time is required elsewhere for the moment and after reading your post Dave, I have come to the realization that this forum, the MD discuss, is a sort of an intellectual purgatory.
interesting post -Ron ----- Original Message ---- From: David Thomas <[email protected]> To: MoQ <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 10:00:44 AM Subject: [MD] Loneliness Greetings MoQers (old and new) When I left this list years ago, I promised myself I would not join again. Look at the archive from time to time maybe, but not jump back into the brier-patch. My stint here started with Lila Squad and lasted until 2000 I think. Did loneliness get to me? Or maybe discomfort with the progress (or lack thereof)? The uncivil discourse particularly in the current events threads?(Platt & Arlo are sure making Struan proud.) Some of each, but the kicker is this book: Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John T.. Cacioppo & William Patrick. It is an overview of a series of multi-disciplinary studies carried out by social and biological scientists over the last 20 years may give insight into the emerging of the social level. A taste: ³ The ³social brain² gave rise to the expanded cerebral cortex in humans because it gave an advantage to individuals who could learn by social observations; recognize the shifting status of friends and foes; anticipate and coordinate efforts between two of more individuals, eventually relying on language to communicate with, reason with, teach, and deceive others; orchestrate relationships, ranging from pair bonds and families to friends, bands, and coalitions; navigate complex hierarchies, adhere to social norms, and absorb cultural developments; subjugate self-interest to the interest of the pair bond or social group in exchange for the possibility of long-term benefits; recruit support for the sanctioning of individuals who violate group norms; and do all this across time frames that stretch from the distant past to multiple possible futures. It is worth noting that each of the subtle mental abilities requires the executive control functions of the frontal lobes-the function that succumbs most easily to the disturbing force of feeling socially isolatedŠŠŠ. ³Getting by as a happy and healthy human being requires the integrative intelligence exercised by the brain¹s frontal lobes, a function that neuroscientists and psychologists have labeled executive control.² ³Social Brain!² "Social Biology?" Oh horrors, what a MoQ blasphemy! What makes the "social" divide difficult is that prior to MoQ the term had been applied to a whole range of other animal behavior (still is). But MoQishly the social level is exclusively human. Whether these prior events are called "quasi-social" or "pre-social" what this book shows it that there were many patterns that had to coevolved on the cusp of the social level before it could emerge. And picking any one as the tipping point, probably misses the point. Often overlooked in the discussions of patterns and levels is the equal importance of the myriad of conxections, relationships and un-relationships between them (Bo, see works by James for in-depth discussions ;-)) It would seem "Integrative intelligence" and "executive control" also pave the way for the emergence of the intellect. Good book, well worth the time. Oh yeah, there may be a loneliness gene. And that's a good thing. Dave Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
