>On Thu, 23 Oct 2003, Brian Siano wrote:
>
>
>>As I said: could you please describe an environment where competitiveness
>>would _not_ occur? For all of your claims of knowledge of "massive
>>variation" in human societies, you seem to be unable to come up with one,
>>concrete example of such an environment.
>>This is as trivial as asking people to come up with one "concrete
>>example" of gravity. But if you need some obvious examples:
>>
>>1. family settings, even in the U. S.
>>2. people reading at a public library
>>3. Amish raising a barn
>>4. Hunting and gathering tribe on a hunt
>>5. Religious rituals in almost every society
>>6. Jimmy Carter building homes for Habitat for
>>Humanity
>>7. The Open Source software community
>>8. Credit Unions
>>9. Food Co-ops
>>10. People using public parks
>>11. Public utility boards
>>12. "Jigsaw" learning groups in educational settings
>>
>>Do I really have to go on? Competition is simply not
>>a necessary or inevitable element of social interactions.
>>
>>
This has got to me the most pathetic attempt at dodging the question
I've ever seen.
Please recall, Miles, that you originally stated: "Man, I thought Justin just went over this. If by "human nature"you mean some biological or genetic imperative, Luke and Woj's claim here is nonsensical. One more time: any genetic or biological factors must be expressed in an environmental context. There is no way to "strip away" the environment to assess the pure, isolated genetic effect. Thus to make the claim that X is "natural" or "inevitable", independent of environmental conditions, demonstrates a (willful?) ignorance of what has been learned about genetics and biology."
To which I replied with my question: please provide an example of an environment where competition wouldn't arise among humans. Clearly, we _were_ discussing "environment" in its broadest sense, i.e., surroundings, nuturing, diet, etc.
Nobody denies that there are social situations where competition isn't an explicit factor, or where people can put it aside in favor of other motives. That's _not_ what we were asking you to provide-- so your answer is as off-topic as it is trivial. Could you please describe an _environment_ wherein competition would _not_ arise? What sort of a world would produce human beings for whom "competitiveness" just doesn't exist? _THAT_ was the question.