Speech Comm

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

301--family and the sanctity of the sperm

OK, gang. We've talked about our biological families, and we've talked about families in general, along with the problems that face them. I would like you to be aware that where I'm from, people sometimes shun the sanctity of the sperm and the egg...they cast off all biological ties and create their own family. People latch on to others, that's human nature.

Life can be very hard. Without some kind of family structure, people do not thrive.

Why do we need other people? Why are we not solitary creatures? What does it say about this drive that we will dismiss our bloodlines and pick up on people who offer something we need? And most importantly, how do we communicate this? Is it verbal? Physical? Textual or understood, or perhaps chemical?

Discuss.

Comments

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

Well... the, uh, beings in the group for one. You get support and...and a place to belong. If you're lucky and don't frell everything up you might even gain a real family 'cause you might find the person that...that you're supposed to be with that way. You don't havta go through your life alone.

But, uh, I guess you could say that society could benefit too. Being forced to live with other people, tends to make you less selfish than...than maybe you were before that. Makes you more willing to help other people. And I mean, you get a bunch of beings together, who know each others strengths and weaknesses and all that from cycles of experience, it makes it easy for them to...to work together for somethin'.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

I s it our nature to cooperate, Chiana? In general I mean...I know we do it in the face of a common enemy, but what about on a normal day?

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Humans... and, I would assume, other sentiant beings *nods to Chiana* don't generally like conflict. It's exhausting to go against someone else -- or multiple someone elses -- particularly if there is no useful product at the end of it. It's easier, more satisfying, to be around people who are going to agree with you on a regular basis. People clump into groups based on shared views. They stay in those groups if their views are validated.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Good, Chip. What you've describes is an ethnos [writes ETHNOS on the board]. That's a group of people who come together under shared values, beliefs, or interests.

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

::laughs:: No, or atleast not in anybody's that I know. Frell, the beings I was with, we tried to kill each other on a regular basis. But, uh, just 'cause you might fight on a normal day ::laughs to herself about the idea that a normal day wouldn't include fighting an enemy:: it doesn't mean that there isn't love there.

It..it's what makes being in that family different, I guess. You may not get along, you may have completely opposite goals, and sometimes you might even be acting in direct conflict with somebody else's goals. But what's different about that and fighting with some random being, is that there's history and caring and all that to fall back on. You know *why* they're being uncooperative...and you usually know *how* to convince them to cooperate.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

And does that take us back to trust and influence, Chiana?

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. You get that close to someone, you eventually have to learn to trust them which means you're allowing them to have influence over you. You're trusting that, even if they want something different from you, that they care enough about you not to influence you into doing somethin' that'll... that'll hurt you.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Precisely, Chiana. some people choose familial groups as a direct result of broken trust in their blood family.

Do you have anythign else you want to add?

[wannabelawyer.livejournal.com]

I think we cooperate when it suits us, when we think it's our best interest. But generally speaking...not so much.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Why not, Lindsey?

[wannabelawyer.livejournal.com]

I think part of it, sometimes, is because we all want to think that we can really be independent and not need other people.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

And is that feasible/ That we are lone wolves in the forest of the world?

Speaking of wolves...what do you think of the analogy of a wolf pack to describe a chosen familial group?