not just monkeys

People love to justify their brutal behavior with the logic that we're just monkeys, so it's only natural for us to act like primates- exploiting the weakness of others, trying to act like the biggest, meanest brute to get women, etc.  This is the error of the reductionist viewpoint.  It's not that we're just monkeys, it's that we come from monkeys.  We came from reptiles, but very few people would use this to defend eating one's offspring.  Reptiles came from fish, but they aren't just fish, etc, etc.  Humans, cockroaches and lizards and all other biological forms are between two forms- a form from the past and a novel form that is yet to come.  

"Higher" is a loaded concept and the first one that critics will rail against so I'll try to avoid it.  But, so far, biological forms generally tend to become more complex and more intelligent over time.  More importantly, intelligence tends to move from  a lower state of pure terror, hunger and rage to higher forms of affection, understanding, etc.  You only have to look at the structure of a human brain to see the record of this.  The foundation of our brain structure is reptilian, inherited from our past reptilian form: this part of the brain is the seat of pure hunger, malice and fear.  Built on top of that, inherited from our past mammilian form, is a mammilian brain that gives us arguably more nuanced and less aggressive forms of intelligence such as concern and affection for our family members.  From the most recent, outer part of our brains comes the most nuanced and least aggressive forms of intelligence- association, reflection, the ability to understand the pain of others and the ability to envision future situations that haven't happened yet.  

Of course these faculties can be used by the aggressive reptile brain.  But I believe that we have a responsibility to lean towards complexity, nuance of intelligence and a decrease in aggression.  This process is happening at all times, and always has.   We humans have reason, compassion, imagination, all of which make us not "just" anything.  The human cerebral cortex is the most miraculous, connection-dense material on the planet and, as far as we know, in the universe.  And like all biological forms, we are just a transition from a talking monkey to a still more intelligent, less violent state that we can envision no better that a fish could have envisioned living on land, building shelters or falling in love.  It's up to each of us to strive toward the evolutionary future and keep from backsliding into being ruthless primates, which we are not.

[update- yeah I know there's some hooey in here.  but what would my writing be without hooey??]