Blackfish documentary on CNN - anyone else watch it?

[Taem]

Quick re:intro. I have no read all the posts in this thread since my last post. I've been very busy lately and just haven't had time, so I'm going to read through this thread, and comment where I feel it's necessary and hopefully I won't rehash much old content along the way.

...That is my personal belief on animals, however this does not change my reflections of what I know about altruism, and "why" people do what it is they do.

I don't subscribe to black and white thinking.

Is Pure Altruism possible?

"On Jan. 2, 2007, Mr. Autrey jumped down onto the tracks of a New York City subway platform as a train was approaching to save a man who had suffered a seizure and fallen. A few months later the Virginia Tech professor Liviu Librescu blocked the door to his classroom so his students could escape the bullets of Seung-Hui Cho, who was on a rampage that would leave 32 students and faculty members dead. In so doing, Mr. Librescu gave his life. "

It may be time to look beyond the sensationalism of Dawkins. I think while we are motivated by instincts, and biological behavioral patterns -- we are not robots and can exhibit intellect and free will beyond that of simple social insects.

Often, even altruistically, we can act selfishly. But, it is not the rule.

The irony here is that it is your thinking that is in fact "black and white" on this issue. The article you linked just furthers my point by proving how we've evolved our traits FROM these basic desires to survive and propagate. Let me ask you, why do you think you care even remotely about your offspring, that you feel emotions whatsoever? Do you honestly think you are special in some way, that you care for your offspring more than anyone else? Think again! We have all, including most animals, evolved these traits as an important evolutionary step in propagation! Perhaps you think you "care" about things because this emotion comes from your god as written in the good book (i.e. all good things come from above)? If so, you are even more deluded with religious philosophy then I ever dreamed. No, we've evolved emotions to help us "care" for our offspring so we could thrive through nurturing and propagation. That's all we are designed for, and it encompasses everything we do as a species and all our thoughts. This is why there is no true altruism because everything we do, we do for survival of us, or even of our species in those two example you cited.

It's funny, because I was in the car with my wife listening to the radio, and we could not find a single song on our way from Santa Barbara to Universal Studios that wasn't about propagation in some way (i.e. having sex, getting into a relationship ~ we know where that leads ~ or relationship problems in general, or money, or material possession related themes). No, not a single one. Our society is still very caveman'ish in it's logic, still focused on our primordial thoughts of "me-me-me" and procreation. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can take a step back and see people doing what they do simply for survivals sake. I'll reiterate, there is no true altruism in the pure sense of the word.