of monkeys and men

*disclaimer: If you feel that in order for a bloggers views to be considered valid, it ought to have numerous links and references, then do not continue reading...because I do not offer "me too!" links to legitimize my views.*

It is oft quoted that simians are 98.4% doppelgangers at the genetic level. Its probably the first issue addressed in "The Secret: a scientists guide." (before you google that mindlessly, think:"REALLY? Come on, REALLY? Am I THAT gullible?")

So we've extensively researched, shamelessly indulging our sensibilities and flaunting our superiority about how that 0.6% is our trump card.

But what we often don't look into is how in some ways being worse than other simians helped us evolve past them...Because its true. (yes, okay GO GOOGLE IT...you bay-sharam addict.)

When it comes to imitation, all primates; with the exception of us, have been referenced (even in our every day life) as 'minic(ing) slavishly, often absurdly.'

But ironically, (and empirically,) it has been shown, that humans' aping is far surperior to...well apes aping abilities...Our hairier halves find the quickest, most efficient way to achieve their goal, as well as adapt more efficiently to new situations, whereas we imitate almost mindlessly.

Or is it THAT mindless? True, to get from point A to B if you detour via C and take a breather at D, it seems silly (my monkey counterpart would agree here;) but by imitating has that made us identify,"walk in eachothers shoes," and finally made us more tolerant by performing rites which serve no obvious purpose, except to please?

I'd like to add an unabashed opionion here...For those of you who read the above and scoffed at the part equating 'humans' with 'tolerant,' would you agree, that the above inference would thereby also imply that globally, our current lifestyle preaches becoming better 'apes' than 'human'?

If I lost you there, don't feel bad, I was going en route points C and D. Let it go...

So anyway, my point was, that by imitating eachother, we have developed better "people skills" than monkeys do...And this actually helped us evolve (maybe we worked together at some point regardless of physical appearence...seems like a long shot doesn't it?) because as long as monkeys found quicker ways to do a task, they needn't trouble their minds with 'the big W'

no, not 'Withdrawal,' I mean 'Why'...Because a monkey's sole purpose is to achieve the goal at hand, they find a way to reward themselves more efficiently...Whereas despite mimicing better, we wonder why, because our sense of reward is not as highly developed as theirs is (fact.)

*irrelevant tangent: Is our sense of suffering therefore more highly developed? I ask only because we find ourselves more drawn to adversity, we relate to it more, and believe in the 'reality' of it more than reward*

Humans have shown to exhibit a sense of wonder toward why objects often interact with eachother the way they do, from the age of 18 months...meaning we have a sense of physics...which again is unique only to us.

I don't have a central point of cohesion around the corner of this next sentence...but all this made me wonder if our thought process has in fact even evolved?

Another thing I noticed about monkeys' is: the alpha male has a female, who is regarded his first lady comparable even if he has his Lewinskys' on a need basis...But what struck me was that the alpha male got the best of the batch...and I dub her (unoriginally) alpha female...

Thats how it was meant to be...even in our elite hairless sub-sapien selves. Yet, of late there has been a very obvious shift in the natural order of things (atleast in my city...) There are more and more alpha females who are markedly territorial in ways the alpha male used to be, and...(here's the kicker...) these females prefer submissive males to complement their aggressive alpha female tendencies...Is this a part of a local evolutionary jump? Or is it an aberration?

Perception after the fact...human philosophy

Go figure.