←back to thread

117 points austinallegro | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.21s | source
Show context
SethMurphy ◴[] No.44462753[source]
It always fascinated me that particular behaviors, like herding, can be so ingrained to a particular breed of dog. The dog is no longer in a setting where this is crucial to their survival, yet the urge exists. I do wonder for how many generations the behaviors would last, assuming the dominant genes were not surpressed. That is of course assuming genes are the factor that drives it. It's almost as if environment has little to do with the behavior in this case, other than having opportunity to exhibit the behavior.
replies(3): >>44462915 #>>44463035 #>>44463543 #
4gotunameagain ◴[] No.44463035[source]
I was flabbergasted when I learned that herding dogs have the instinct to bite behind the legs, even of humans. It is a pressure tactic to make the herded animal go in a certain direction.

To me this is an (unpopular) argument against the tabula rasa theory of humans.

If such a complex behaviour can be congenital, who knows what behaviours are congenital in humans.

replies(2): >>44463065 #>>44463227 #
cm2012 ◴[] No.44463065[source]
Tabula rasa theory is not close to plausible with the scientific evidence we have, unfortunately.
replies(1): >>44463217 #
closewith ◴[] No.44463217[source]
Why is that unfortunate?

Edit: Just to clear, my comment was genuine curiosity, especially as true tabula rasa seems to mean we would lose benefits such as the ability to learn spoken language. The racist/xenophobic comments by a poster below is unscientific nonsense and not what I was trying to introduce.

replies(2): >>44463383 #>>44463453 #
1. kylecazar ◴[] No.44463453[source]
They probably think it would be nice if people weren't born with negative behavioral pre-dispositions