– Patrick Edward O’Toole –

evolution is  based on the idea that variation and change: difference = survival……there may be no ideal situation for all beings b/c that would imply a static homogeneous environment and the end of evolution and change….which will not happen…or if it does, will begin to limit the possibilities of the human organism.  variation and difference is the essence of our survival strategy as a species.  the ultimate “gift” or strategy for humans is the “empty space” open for intragenerational and single generational learning that allows not only an entire cultural/environmental reprogramming in a Single generation, but the capability to learn within a single lifespan and have dynamic transformation.  We raise children and give them thousands of years of evolution in a few decades.  evolution strategy is to make things different….different enough to defy prediction?  the “empty space” is the gap of possibility…and also of doubt and fear and the unknown.  normative behavior is the solution and the trap.  the trials and difficulties of modern social living go and in hand with the massive developments of the past 250 years.  The creative space in the unknown.  this is the basic human/anthro-delima.  “maybe we should try some different berries and try a new path across the frozen lake this year = gonna die…but b/c of the natural changing process at some point the berry won’t be the same and the path won’t work anyway…disruption from the known is primarily dangerous and the opportunity of growth and change.

this “gap” is what helps make us so adaptive, what gives us the range that we possess, that lessens the governor other organisms have on determining their fate, and why it is so hard to pin-point exact human behavior or determin highly specific ideal circumstances for social organization….there may not be this option…but a wide range of possibilities.