A rational animal is still an animal

June 3, 2022 5:54 PM

I'm looking for quotes, mottos, longer writings, and even images that illustrate the idea that human beings, for all our big brains and fancy trappings, are still biological organisms who need to defecate, give birth, and are at the whims of hormones, brain chemicals, diseases, etc.? Basically the opposite of most classical thought that places mankind at the pinnacle of the natural world.
posted by Rora to Science & Nature (18 answers total)

The notion of "lizard brain", as defined in the Urban Dictionary, has been around for a few years. It refers to making decisions and choices without rational thought - like a lizard would.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:19 PM on June 3, 2022

Snowden's secret from Catch-22. Man was matter. Ripeness was all.
posted by Snijglau at 6:36 PM on June 3, 2022

Greg Egan, "Reasons to Be Cheerful"
George Saunders, "Escape from Spiderhead"

Also, @KylePlantEmjoi: "Oh your 'brain' is acting 'illogically'? It's meat with electricity inside what the fuck did you expect"
posted by Wobbuffet at 6:41 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

From Bertrand Russell's essay Ideas That Have Helped Mankind:

Has civilization taught us to be more friendly towards one another?
The answer is easy. Robins (the English, not the American species)
peck an elderly robin to death, whereas men (the English, not the
American species) give an elderly man an oldage pension. Within the
herd we are more friendly to each other than are many species of
animals, but in our attitude towards those outside the herd, in spite of
all that has been done by moralists and religious teachers, our
emotions are as ferocious as those of any animal, and our intelligence
enables us to give them a scope which is denied to even the most
savage beast. It may be hoped, though not very confidently, that the
more humane attitude will in time come to prevail, but so far the
omens are not very propitious.
posted by needs more cowbell at 6:41 PM on June 3, 2022 [6 favorites]

I do not recall it’s origin, but “Don't forget to drink water. Get some sunlight. You're basically a house plant with more complex emotions.”
posted by furnace.heart at 6:56 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

Alan watts speech “man and nature” is more cosmic, but probably appropriate.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:11 PM on June 3, 2022

"Insects have their own point of view about civilization a man thinks he amounts to a great deal but to a flea or a mosquito a human being is merely something good to eat." --- Don Marquis, Archy and Mehitabel.
posted by SPrintF at 7:12 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

Here's a snippet of text from the puzzle video game The Talos Principle, in which a (fictional) ancient Greek philosopher discusses the (real-world) myth from which the game takes its name:

Whether it is true that Daedalus constructed the giant Talos, or as others say he was the creation of Hephaestus, what we may be certain of is that he was made of bronze, and had but one vein, within which flowed a liquid substance like blood, which some claim was quicksilver, and others assert was ichor such as flows in the veins of the gods. The loss of that liquid caused him to die, as a man dies when he loses his blood.

May we not then say that Talos, though created as a machine or a toy, had all the essential properties of a man? He moved of his own volition. He spoke and could be spoken to, had wishes and desires. Indeed in the tale of the Argonauts, that was the cause of his downfall. If, then, a machine may have all the properties of a man, and act as a man while driven only by the ingenious plan of its construction and the interaction of its materials according to the principles of nature, then does it not follow that man may also be seen as a machine? This contradicts all the schools of metaphysics, yet even the most faithful philosopher cannot live without his blood.

posted by teraflop at 7:21 PM on June 3, 2022

When I was pregnant, giving birth, and nursing an infant, it was quite a reminder that we are mammals.

One of my favorite books is Primate's Memoir, Robert Sapolsky. Primatologists see how directly linked we are to apes, baboons, etc. Sapolsky's masterwork, where he tries to sum up a lot of human neurology and how it applies to behavior, is Behave. It's not easy reading. You might also enjoy his lectures for the 1st level course in neurobiology at Stanford; they are worth watching. More than once.

Darwin probably has some things to say.
posted by theora55 at 7:40 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

MollyRealized beat me to it, but for those who prefer text, the written version of They're Made Out of Meat .
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:42 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral ... Bertolt Brecht, Threepenny Opera

Feeding frenzy first, then ethics. 'Feasting' is a more common translation than 'feeding frenzy'.
posted by jamjam at 8:37 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker.
Descarte's Error by Antonio Demasio.
posted by catquas at 8:49 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

You might also enjoy [Sapolsky's] lectures for the 1st level course in neurobiology at Stanford; they are worth watching. More than once.

This, this, and more this.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:01 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

Montaigne: Les rois et les philosophes fientent, et les dames aussi.”
Florio translation: "Kings and Philosophers obey nature, and goe to the stoole, and so doe Ladies.
Melvin Konner's The Tangled Wing: biological constraints on the human spirit [1982] covers similar ground to Sapolsky.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:14 PM on June 3, 2022

James Sinclaire's novel, I am not the Messiah! is exactly what you are looking for.
posted by My real name, yeah right at 12:35 AM on June 4, 2022

“like to think I lead complex emotional life but then the sun comes out and i am happy. i am functionally no different from a big leaf“
posted by corvine at 2:51 AM on June 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Everyone Poops
posted by miles per flower at 5:55 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

"On the highest throne in the world, we are seated, still, upon our arses."

This is usually attributed to Montaigne.
posted by HoraceH at 8:45 PM on June 4, 2022