The Brave Pedestrian

We suffer from a collective grand delusion  that while we feed on, use and exploit other creatures, nothing feeds on us and exploits us.  We fondly believe that we are at the top of the food chain on Planet Earth, and that this planet is a self-contained kingdom, more or less isolated and insulated from the rest of the cosmos. We believe that except for an asteroid striking this planet, or some such cataclysmic event, we are safe from the universe because except for sunlight and starlight, nothing much comes and goes between here and the rest of the cosmos. We believe especially that while there are all sorts of natural phenomena influencing the course of our lives, there is nothing out there with a  will to exploit us,  use us and prey on us. In other words, we believe that humans are their own worst enemies, and that they have no natural enemies that cannot be dealt with a shot of vaccine or antibiotics. We try collectively to maintain this illusion by thinking ...

May 29, 2006: A couple of days ago, I posted a blog raising uncomfortable questions about why so many guys fantasized about their wives making love to some guy — boss, buddy etc. Why was such evolutionarily counterproductive behaviour as offering your own wife on a platter to some other dude such a tantalizing thought? Why was cuckold fantasy such a popular genre, was the question I raised.  My touchstone is that unless a form of behaviour had evolutionary value, or at any rate had survival value, that would have died out, thanks to natural selection. After sleeping over the problem for a couple of days, I finally have it figured out.  (Yeah, right! At this rate, you should elect me President of Planet Earth, because within a couple of years, I’ll come up with solutions to all problems, including global warming and the hole in the ozone layer!) And while I’m at it, let me hazard a comment on how gay behaviour among bo...

Earlier, I posted a blog raising uncomfortable questions about why so many guys fantasised about their wives making love to some guy — boss, buddy etc. Why was such evolutionarily counterproductive behaviour as offering your own wife to some other dudes such a tantalizing thought, was the question raised. My touchstone is that unless a behaviour had evolutionary value or survival value, it would have died out thanks to natural selection. And while I’m at it, let me hazard a comment on how gay behaviour among both sexes made evolutionary sense, and helped the survival of those endowed with those instincts/impulses/desires.  (Please don’t mind me, darlings!) OK, here goes:  For a few tens of thousand years back there in the prehistoric past, things were pretty rough, especially during the Ice Ages. Most infants that were born — say 99 out of hundred — never made it into their teens. Most teenagers — say 70 out of hundred — never made it to age ...

[I have some some pungent views about why life is the way it is, and why people are the way they are. I believe that life is assymetrical i.e. it is not entirely fair from a politically-correct human point of view. What's sauce for the goose may not necessarily be sauce for the gander. If you feel that my views are inconsistent with being a nice, civilized human being, relax, you aren't the only one who thinks so.] Dedicated to ‘Why Name’, who thinks all men are creeps. My wife often sighs that I have sex on my mind all the time. She’s right, but I think that holds true for most males. So why did evolution make us males this way? Why does it only take a half-witted curvy female to sweet-talk practically any male from nine to ninety into doing silly things, staking his social standing, relationships and future happiness? And why do we men often exhibit such “lack of commitment to the mother of his children”? (That’s how nagging, aggrieved women word it; we men see it somew...