asked to surrender
at Waterloo.
"Merde," was the answer General Canbronne gave.
The word petard means a kind of bomb. It comes from the
same Olde English root as fart.
General Canbronne's mentality was typical of the alphamales
of the military caste.
When primates went to war or got violent in other ways,
they always said they were about to knock the shit out of the
enemy.
They also spoke of dumping on each other.
The standard "authority" reflex on the emotional-territorial
circuit is to swell the muscles and howl. You will find this
among birds as well as mammals, and in the Board meeting of
your local bank. The standard "submission" reflex is to shrink
the muscles, lower the head, and "crawl away." You will find
this among dogs, primates, fowl and employees who wish to
keep their jobs everywhere.
If the first (bio-survival) circuit is chiefly imprinted by the
mother, the second (emotional-territorial) circuit is chiefly
imprinted by the father—the nearest alpha male. It has been
proposed, by sociologist G. Rattray Taylor that societies swing
back and forth between "Matrist" periods, in which motherly
66 Prometheus Rising
oral values predominate, and "Patrist" periods, in which fatherly
anal values are in ascendance.
THE STANDARD AUTHORITY REFLEX
Prometheus Rising 6j
Taylor's table of the characteristics of these "Matrist" and
"Patrist" periods is as follows:
Whether or not societies wobble between these extremes as
Taylor claims, individuals certainly do. These are merely the
consequences of (a) having the heaviest imprint on the oral
(Matrist) bio-survival circuit or (b) having the heaviest imprint
on the anal (Patrist) territorial circuit.
In pre-ethological terms, the emotional-territorial circuit is
what we usually call "ego." Ego is simply the mammalian recognition
of one's status in the pack; it is a "role" as sociologists
say, a single brain circuit which mistakes itself for the whole
Self, the entire brain-mind apparatus. The "egotist" behaves like
"a two year old," in the common saying, because Ego is the
imprint of the toddling and toilet-training stage.
The question of how human an animal is (especially a pet dog
or cat) never ceases to divide scientists from laypersons—and
one scientist from another. In terms of the present theory, the
differences between domesticated primates (humans) and other
domesticated animals are virtually nil, as long as we are talking
only about the first two circuits. (Since most people spend most
of their time on these primitive circuits, the differences are often
68 Prometheus Rising
much less obvious than the similarities.) Real differences begin
to appear when the third, semantic circuit enters the picture.
MOST MAMMALS MARK THEIR TERRITORIES WITH
EXCRETIONS. DOMESTICATED PRIMATES MARK THEIR
TERRITORIES WITH INK EXCRETIONS ON PAPER.
For instance, novice dog-trainers always make the mistake of
using too many words. Because the dog is so "human" in so
many ways (canines, like primates, are great mimics), the novice
imputes too much "humanity" to them. The average dog has a
vocabulary of around 150 words, and within that semantic
universe is quite bright. It is very easy to teach a dog the meaning
of "Sit," "Stay," "Attack," etc.; and the dog will learn the
meaning of "walk" and "food" even without your trying to teach
him. The problem begins when the novice expects the dog to
understand something like "No, no, Fritz—anywhere else in the
bedroom, but not on the bed." Even a non-English-speaking
human would not grasp that, except vaguely. The dog gives up
Prometheus Rising
on such sentences and guesses what he can from your mammalian
(and unconscious) body-language.
Understanding these distinctions can vastly improve primatecanine
communication. For instance, my wife, a sociologist,
trained our dog, Fang, not to beg at the table in the most direct
mammalian language possible. She simply growled at him
at Waterloo.
"Merde," was the answer General Canbronne gave.
The word petard means a kind of bomb. It comes from the
same Olde English root as fart.
General Canbronne's mentality was typical of the alphamales
of the military caste.
When primates went to war or got violent in other ways,
they always said they were about to knock the shit out of the
enemy.
They also spoke of dumping on each other.
The standard "authority" reflex on the emotional-territorial
circuit is to swell the muscles and howl. You will find this
among birds as well as mammals, and in the Board meeting of
your local bank. The standard "submission" reflex is to shrink
the muscles, lower the head, and "crawl away." You will find
this among dogs, primates, fowl and employees who wish to
keep their jobs everywhere.
If the first (bio-survival) circuit is chiefly imprinted by the
mother, the second (emotional-territorial) circuit is chiefly
imprinted by the father—the nearest alpha male. It has been
proposed, by sociologist G. Rattray Taylor that societies swing
back and forth between "Matrist" periods, in which motherly
66 Prometheus Rising
oral values predominate, and "Patrist" periods, in which fatherly
anal values are in ascendance.
THE STANDARD AUTHORITY REFLEX
Prometheus Rising 6j
Taylor's table of the characteristics of these "Matrist" and
"Patrist" periods is as follows:
Whether or not societies wobble between these extremes as
Taylor claims, individuals certainly do. These are merely the
consequences of (a) having the heaviest imprint on the oral
(Matrist) bio-survival circuit or (b) having the heaviest imprint
on the anal (Patrist) territorial circuit.
In pre-ethological terms, the emotional-territorial circuit is
what we usually call "ego." Ego is simply the mammalian recognition
of one's status in the pack; it is a "role" as sociologists
say, a single brain circuit which mistakes itself for the whole
Self, the entire brain-mind apparatus. The "egotist" behaves like
"a two year old," in the common saying, because Ego is the
imprint of the toddling and toilet-training stage.
The question of how human an animal is (especially a pet dog
or cat) never ceases to divide scientists from laypersons—and
one scientist from another. In terms of the present theory, the
differences between domesticated primates (humans) and other
domesticated animals are virtually nil, as long as we are talking
only about the first two circuits. (Since most people spend most
of their time on these primitive circuits, the differences are often
68 Prometheus Rising
much less obvious than the similarities.) Real differences begin
to appear when the third, semantic circuit enters the picture.
MOST MAMMALS MARK THEIR TERRITORIES WITH
EXCRETIONS. DOMESTICATED PRIMATES MARK THEIR
TERRITORIES WITH INK EXCRETIONS ON PAPER.
For instance, novice dog-trainers always make the mistake of
using too many words. Because the dog is so "human" in so
many ways (canines, like primates, are great mimics), the novice
imputes too much "humanity" to them. The average dog has a
vocabulary of around 150 words, and within that semantic
universe is quite bright. It is very easy to teach a dog the meaning
of "Sit," "Stay," "Attack," etc.; and the dog will learn the
meaning of "walk" and "food" even without your trying to teach
him. The problem begins when the novice expects the dog to
understand something like "No, no, Fritz—anywhere else in the
bedroom, but not on the bed." Even a non-English-speaking
human would not grasp that, except vaguely. The dog gives up
Prometheus Rising
on such sentences and guesses what he can from your mammalian
(and unconscious) body-language.
Understanding these distinctions can vastly improve primatecanine
communication. For instance, my wife, a sociologist,
trained our dog, Fang, not to beg at the table in the most direct
mammalian language possible. She simply growled at him
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