Pondering.

[greygirlbeast]

I've been trying the decide if humans are herd animals or pack animals. I'm tending to favour the latter.

Comments

[tjcrowley.livejournal.com]

I think they are hack animals.

They sure do make me want to hack them.

[yvonnenavarro.livejournal.com]

Despite my attempts to continually get rid of stuff, I've still managed to collect enough junk to fill way too many rooms. So far, however, I have only herded two dogs, having been able to resist the urge to save every cute, liquid-eyed pup I see on Petfinder. So I think I fall under "pack animal."

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

That's a good question, because the answer would probably apply to hookworms, tapeworms, headlice, and other parasites as well. (Sorry: this has been the sort of day where I would have created the term "free-range Soylent Green" if I hadn't done so already.)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

We're band animals. Which is closer to pack animals than herd animals, because you need something in which to carry the musical instriments.

[lizzistardust.livejournal.com]

It seems the most common theory is that we're pack animals. Are most other primates also categorized as such?

[galateadia.livejournal.com]

i agree that we tend to be pack animals;
at least in my experience that's more true.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Pack animals, I'd think, due to the nature of the lead/follow dynamic, and the fact that there are "alphas" in every group.

[zpydah.livejournal.com]

nascar and the wwe lead me to believe we are herd animals

[misery-masque.livejournal.com]

I vote for herd, as in sheep. Wolves are pack animals. Common people, for the most part, are sheep. Living in fear and being fleeced.

[oneirophrenia.livejournal.com]

The standard human behavioral model seems to be a strange mix of both herd and pack tendencies, in that the less-dominating or self-assertive members of a given group tend to act like sheep being herded by the more assertive "alpha" males/females, who act, among themselves, more like wolves constantly vying for the top spot. Friedrich Nietzsche actually made a point very, very close to this in Beyond Good and Evil (best book of "philosophy" ever written, if you can ignore the savage misogyny that even makes ME cringe a little) when he described the competing moral "systems" that he dubbed Slave Morality (the morality of the herdlike weak) and Master Morality (the bloodthirsty Machiavellian morality of the wolflike strong).

This behavior is 100% engrained into our DNA. But that doesn't mean that it's a good thing. Fortunately, the technology to fix this outmoded design element is creeping up on us--I for one would never father a child using the godawful random genetic-selection process that human reproduction entails now. But once the tech is available, territoriality and extreme emotional responsiveness would be the first things I'd edit out. That would give me plenty of room to plug in genes for photosynthetic skin, a higher-energy ATP pathway, and 70% more cortex to take advantage of the extra energy.

[z0mb1e.livejournal.com]

Totally pack animals. I have thought that ever since I knew what pack animals were, when I was a wee lass.

[lunablack.livejournal.com]

Sheeple.

[frankiemouse.livejournal.com]

if forced to pick only one i'd go with pack animals. what i really think is that there are some smartish one that are mostly loners (with a few "friends"); then there are the smartish pack ones; then you have the ones who are smart enough to learn who the smart pack one are and follow them heard-like; then you get to the majority who couldn't think their way out of a paper bag. these are the ones who are too stupid to realize that they're not the smartest thing in the universe, yet think it's a good idea to do whatever the one next to them is doing for fear of being different, ostracized, or turned on.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

Vermin are counted in swarms.
I don't know what macro-viruses fall under.

[blubeagle.livejournal.com]

Pack animals.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

This pack animal raises her hand.

[reverendcrofoot.livejournal.com]

At first I said Herd Animals, 'cause Humans can't carry all that much stuff. Then much latter, I realized you meant a different sort of pack.

to make us all feel better

[dethbird.livejournal.com]

http://www.catcollectors.com/litterboxcake.html

make sure to scroll down for a nice shot of the end-product.

you gotta see this.

apologizing in advance,
Rick