Personal reflection
Being part of the group, part of the pack
For me, collective thinking is one of the greatest things that has happened to humanity. It helps us share knowledge and achieve things we could not manage alone.
I’ve benefited from being part of the whole, even though I sometimes like to go off alone. Actually, I’ve found that the group gives me something more than I could have achieved by myself. And for that reason, I feel it is a great thing to be part of a collective.
And it is not about material things. It’s about helping each other. It’s communication, pure and simple.
Monkey-like or wolf-like?
Are we more monkey-like or wolf-like, though? As an image of how we work together, I’d say more wolf-like. We divide tasks and act as a group. Some have great talent and individuality, but even those special ones depend on the pack.
That is a comparison about cooperation. Biologically, humans are primates, specifically great apes.
What holds the group together?
How does that natural, organic human group function? I think there is a natural instinct to help and share with others. Beneath the culture, the moral or political ideology, I see a desire in humans to fight together as a pack.
That does not mean every group is harmonious or entirely self-sustaining. But it is the part of belonging that I value.
I put the idea to Grok
Its reply made a useful distinction: the outcome might look wolf-like, but the social mechanisms are primate-like, shaped by culture and cognition. That is a summary of the reply, not scientific evidence.
Yeah, I would agree with that. It’s what I kind of meant anyway. Of course, we’re primates. But we have also lived alongside our best friends, dogs, for thousands of years.
🫠🫠🫠ðŸ«
Background: the Smithsonian on humans and the great apes and our long history with dogs.