4 ms·

We are not our children. Though they might carry our genes, our ideas, and our appearance, we will absolutely still be dead one day. Other peoples children are

by shubb 9y ago

We are not our children. Though they might carry our genes, our ideas, and our appearance, we will absolutely still be dead one day. Other peoples children are almost genetically identical to us, and to ours. Depending on how you live your life, people other than your children might carry more of your ideas forward. And in the scheme of things, all humans look like you, when compared to rabits. Only caring about your own children seems like a strange place to start.

ithkuil 9y ago
there is a certain selective pressure to tend to care a little bit more about your children than somebody else's children (as well as caring to a broader kin such as humanity vs rabbits). it's not right or wrong, it's just an instinct that has been selected through evolution because apparently it favours carriers of such genes to outnumber those who don't.
- cornholio 9y ago
  It's essentially the same instinct that pushes you to have 12 children and clear a large swath of forest to create arable land to feed them. There is nothing superior about your children, and chances are you will find an underprivileged child you can support that is much smarter than the average offspring you could produce (not that it should matter).
- shubb 9y ago
  Genes can be selfish without the individuals who carry them being selfish. Because genes are carried by a group, and the survival of the group means that the gene will survive, so self sacrificing behaviur can be selected for. That isn't to say that people don't instinctively care for their own children. Although maybe there may be no such instinct and we are just taught from birth to do so by our own parents behaviur - which some may not learn. Maybe. A lot of things seem to be a mixture of nature and nurture I guess. Just that, it is possible for behaviurs like the one we are discussing to be selected for.

by shubb 9y ago

ithkuil 9y ago

there is a certain selective pressure to tend to care a little bit more about your children than somebody else's children (as well as caring to a broader kin such as humanity vs rabbits). it's not right or wrong, it's just an instinct that has been selected through evolution because apparently it favours carriers of such genes to outnumber those who don't.

cornholio 9y ago
It's essentially the same instinct that pushes you to have 12 children and clear a large swath of forest to create arable land to feed them. There is nothing superior about your children, and chances are you will find an underprivileged child you can support that is much smarter than the average offspring you could produce (not that it should matter).
shubb 9y ago
Genes can be selfish without the individuals who carry them being selfish. Because genes are carried by a group, and the survival of the group means that the gene will survive, so self sacrificing behaviur can be selected for. That isn't to say that people don't instinctively care for their own children. Although maybe there may be no such instinct and we are just taught from birth to do so by our own parents behaviur - which some may not learn. Maybe. A lot of things seem to be a mixture of nature and nurture I guess. Just that, it is possible for behaviurs like the one we are discussing to be selected for.