“If... deceit is fundamental to animal communication, then there must be strong selection to spot deception and this ought, in turn, to select for a degree of self-deception, rendering some facts and motives unconscious so as not to betray - by the subtle signs of self-knowledge - the deception being practiced.' Thus, 'the conventional view that natural selection favors nervous systems which produce ever more accurate images of the world must be a very naive view of mental evolution.” IfsWorldSelfFactsTurnsStrongNaturalAnimalViewsProduceCommunicationOughtEvolutionDegreesFundamentalsFavorsNervousSpotsDeceptionMotiveUnconsciousSubtleDeceitBetrayAccurateConventionalSelf KnowledgeSelectionNaiveSelectSelf DeceptionNatural SelectionNervous SystemRendering Author:Robert Trivers
“What is a totem? It is as a rule an animal (whether edible and harmless or dangerous and feared) and more rarely a plant or a natural phenomenon (such as rain or water), which stands in a peculiar relation to the whole clan. In the first place, the totem is the common ancestor of the clan; at the same time it is their guardian spirit and helper, which sends them oracles and, if dangerous to others, recognizes and spares its own children.” IfsFirstsChildrenWholeSpiritWaterNaturalAnimalCommonDangerousRainRelationPlantPhenomenonPeculiarAncestorSparesGuardianClansHelpersOraclesTotemsNatural Phenomena Book:Totem and Taboo Source: Totem and Taboo
“When it's one animal, you really do have a tougher time because you've gotta commit to story structures that maybe are difficult to find the range in the animal to tell those stories. There are only so many things they do, if they're living in the natural world, that we can appreciate. There are plenty of things that they do that we don't appreciate.” IfsWorldStoriesDifficultNaturalAnimalAppreciateStructureCommitPlentyRangeNatural World Author:David Douglas
“My father... never required me to study anything, but he knew how to inspire in me a great desire for knowledge. Before learning to read, my greatest pleasure was to listen to passages from Buffon's natural history. I constantly requested him to read me the history of animals and birds.” DesireFatherNaturalPleasureAnimalStudyInspireBirdPassagesNatural HistoryGreatest PleasuresLearning To ReadDesire For KnowledgeBuffon Author:Andre-Marie Ampere