Introducing the analogy of wolves to humans as a predator species and comparing their difference to solitary hunters is a stretch.
This is not an analogy; it is an observation. (And not my observation; it is from the textbooks.) Similar modes of survival give rise to similar behavior. Intelligent pack hunting predators tend to have complex hierarchies and they instinctively want to subordinate and control other members of their species. This behavior evolves independently in different species, such as people and wolves. I wouldn't know, but it would not surprise me to learn that killer whales are similar.
Their ability to enter a dairy barn and kill every animal without feeding on their kill is known, but not understood.
People do the same thing, no doubt for similar reasons. American buffalo and many other species were hunted to the brink of extinction for sport. It does not seem mysterious to me. Predators are not evolved to deal with an unnatural situation in which unlimited numbers of prey are trapped inside a barn. There is no "brake" or natural limit on the instinct to kill, because that would serve no purpose in natural circumstances.
Making an analogy between humans and wolves permits an expansion of the analogy to include wolverines and humans.
If wolverines are pack hunters there are bound to be similarities. And of course, many differences too!
By the way, just because the human urge to proselytize is rooted in our predatory nature, that does not mean the subject being proselytized is irrational or incorrect. I am not passing judgment on religion here. I am merely describing why Revtec (and others) feel a deep-rooted sense that "proclaiming the deity of Christ is essential to the faith." Religion is ritualized social interaction, and persuading others to follow your lead is absolutely fundamental to primate interaction. This is not, in any sense, an analogy or a coincidental resemblance. It is no more surprising than the fact that human wooing and courtship rituals are similar to those of other animals. Both the humans and the other animals are sincerely in love, as far as anyone can tell.
When a library committee assembles to pick a new set of curtains, the member's behavior is governed by their primate nature. (Omnivore primates in our case.) These instincts are not distant or muted; they are obvious and they control the behavior of the committee members as directly as they control a troop of chimpanzees or bonobos. Of course there are vast differences between different primate species. When members of a bonobo troop have an argument, they tend to smooth over their differences later by spontaneously engaging in sex, both heterosexual and homosexual, whereas a library committee or a troop of chimpanzees would probably not do this. The library committee members might shake hands or kiss one another on the cheek, but that is usually as far as they go.
Also, just because people's behavior is governed by biology, that does not mean people have no free will, they cannot effectively act in their own best interests, and they cannot be domesticated. The rules imposed by biology allow a nearly infinite range of behaviors, good and bad, effective or dysfunctional. They are like the laws of physics or the rules of chess: you cannot escape them or transcend them, but working within them you can accomplish any conceivable goal.
- Jed
