How else can biology help?

Only part of the biology of being human was addressed the last time. It is, I believe, the most important part, but there is something else we would do well not to ignore. Besides asking questions, which is simply part of our nature, there is something else about us biologically that we shouldn't overlook: human beings are social creatures.

Again, this is something that all of us know, but it is not something that we have high enough in our consciousness most of the time. Not only do human offspring demand more attention and are longer incapable of living on their own longer than almost any other species, we don't give up this sociability when we get older. We are biologically designed to live in groups, not alone. Granted, there are those who choose, for whatever reason, to separate themselves from "the group", but they are exceptions, not the rule. They are examples, I would add, that we can, if we desire so strongly enough, overcome our own innate biology. We can commit suicide if we want, go on hunger strikes, even though we know we could die; we can refuse human contact, but fortunately, that's not what most of us do, or want to do. Instead, we seek out others, because that is part of our nature.

Being social animals, if you will, wanting to be with others, should give us pause to think. The egotism, the selfishness, the greed, the individual violence that we witness, the striving for power and domination, are really, when you think about it, contrary to our biological nature. Humans have developed to cooperate, not compete, whereby I'm not saying that every form of competition should be disparaged. No, competition, like anything else that we do or feel should simply be relegated to its proper place in the overall configuration of our being. The idea of "others" is primary, it is closer to who we are than ideas of domination, suppression, oppression, or anything else along those lines.

Being, by nature, group creatures, there are some limits that we must acknowledge as well. According to current thinking, the "social environment" of the average human being is about 150 others. That's how many names we actively remember, it's the size of a very extended family or a neighborhood or a small community. It's a group size in which we can still feel comfortable and live without undue stress.

What is so fascinating about this fact, however, is that theses groups of 150 overlap. That's the idea behind the six degrees of separation. When you stop to think about it, if everyone in your circle of 150 listed all their six-degree relationships, and I did the same with my circle, how long would it take until we really had included the whole world? My guess is, not long at all.

It would seem then that maybe, just maybe, we really are all in this together.