Stand straight with your shoulders pushed back
Review of Rule 1 of the 12 rules of life.
If you’ve heard of Jordan Peterson, widely acclaimed, as the father of the internet that we need but don’t deserve, this article will sit right by your alley. JP dives into human psyche with a pointed analogy between lobsters and homo sapiens. You read that right, crustaceans and their evolution for over 350 million years serve as a template into explaining complex subconscious patterns which surface onto our day-day behavior.
Let’s dive into the wisdom that the robin hood of manliness has to offer. To elucidate the analogy of the crustacean delicacy, lobsters, while apparently primitive and simple creatures, obsess over their status and hierarchy. They establish their dominance primarily via their pincers. Their neural circuitry is rather simple providing a backdrop for cleanly associating behavior with internal chemical state(thoughts). They are obsessed with pecking order which brings us to the battlefield of conflict and territory. Lobsters establish the hierarchy by asserting control over tightly contested valuable spaces which ensures survival. The way they do this is fascinating as well, JP notes, as they prance around like boxers opening and flopping their claws ready to trade jabs if push comes to shove. Round 1 begins with spraying of chemicals located under its eyes which apparently can signal their size, health and mood. Claw sizes come in handy (where’s the size doesn’t matter camp?) becoming a proxy for a physical fight. The chemical in the spray noted above can have the same effect influencing a more beta lobster to back off. Only in cases of stalemate do they proceed to round 3 which involves UFC style almost mortal kombat [sic]. This is honestly rather fun to watch and there’s some videos online that you may want to peruse.
Moving on away from the fun aspect to the more relevant aspect of what a defeat does to the psyche of the defeated, JP says the loser loses the will to fight, even against a previously defeated opponent, such is the blow of a loss. Interestingly if a dominant lobster (someone who’s won) is badly defeated it’s brain basically dissolves, and a more subordinate brain rises from the ashes cementing a transformation from king to a bottom dog . Analysis, alluded earlier, into the neurochemical differences between a victor and a victim (in the yes of the defeated, more on that later) shows clear difference in the ratio of 2 very important chemicals serotonin and octopamine with the winner enjoying a significantly higher ratio. Interestingly enough if a defeated lobster is exposed to Serotonin it begins flexing again, even advancing on former victors.
Then our apostle segues into the principle of unequal distribution noting how richest 85 people in the world have wealth equalling the bottom half of the world, which while tough to wrap one’s head around is not as exasperatingly mind bending as the other factoid which is the just 4 classical composers wrote almost all the music played by modern orchestra. Then he illustrates the Pareto’s/Matthew’s principle accentuated with this quote which struck a chord with me viz. “to those who have everything, more will be given; from those who have nothing, everything will be taken”. It’s just one of those quotes which while can possibly be objectively disproved, we all know is true deep down.
Part 2 of this review follows the more spicy trail of the females role in this hierarchy….stay tuned.
