COMPETITION

Brent Anderson

Competition is an integral part of life. It is a natural law that is reflected in all life forms and at its core is defined by degrees of efficient use of the resources of Earth and Sun. Efficient use of these resources is rewarded with survival, while less efficient use brings oblivion. This process is like a vibrant ongoing painting that changes the face of the Earth in a slow (with respect to mans life span), but inevitable reaction to changing conditions and species. The seeds of this slow evolutionary change are within each of us. Our cumulative DNA reflects what is the current optimum for the conditions we find in this era and inescapably brands us as creatures of this moment in time. We are inextricably intertwined with the rest of the ecosystem and its dynamics. From our point of view, we represent the pinnacle of a vast mountain of life, yet we are totally dependent on the ecological foundation that supports, and in truth surrounds us and are paradoxically the natural prey of some of the smallest of predators (disease causing microorganisms).

One might well ask does this make us rulers of the Earth or simply the most competitive animals of this era? The ultimate truth is that given time all Earth life will continue to evolve, but from this point on it is man’s (woman’s) destiny to increasingly become the prime innovator through genetic engineering. This shift in the selection process may seem small (and to some sacrilegious) in light of the vast ecosystem of the Earth, but it changes the playing field from strictly survival of the fittest to survival of the variants that are useful to man. These engineered species may not represent the fittest in a natural world environment (there will be many failures at first), but man is rapidly altering that environment. Man is causing these changes by out competing other life forms for resources. The method in man’s conquest is entirely natural even if it in some ways represents the antithesis of competition.

In the insect kingdom we find examples of the most powerful of mans methods in the war of competition for resources. Many insect species have refined instinctual cooperation into a very powerful tool to enhance survival. In considering, for instance, a hive of bees, there are many individuals in a hive, which act like a single organism. The individuals are simply expendable appendages of that whole, and the worker bees willingly give their lives to defend and provide for the hive. Each individual in the hive whether queen drone or worker is expendable, since at all times there are appropriate replacement eggs for each in the hive. In the case of mankind cooperation is not totally instinctual. Man, by nature, is a tribal animal, (within family and tribe generally no more than 50-100 individuals) and surely some of this tribal behavior is instinctive. But for man this very basic strategy is modified by communication and intelligence that far surpasses the instinctual.

Humanities great success comes from conscious decisions made by individuals to sublimate personal best interest to group best interest, or in short conscious cooperation. This sort of behavior occurs within small tribal groups and families to a certain degree, but unlike bees, in man there is always a strong individual bias to survive at all expense that is subrogated only in clear cut cases of danger to the whole family or tribe. The reason for this bias is clear in light of our evolutionary origins. Even cursory examination of our species reveals that we are not homogenous for any trait. So upon selecting a trait such as a willingness to work for a greater good, we find extreme examples of individuals who would murder for trivial reasons and at the other extreme individuals who would risk their lives without second thought to save strangers from harm. There is no doubt that both examples are extremes for this trait, and that the latter benefits society while the former illustrates one of mankind’s worst behaviors.

It is easy to visualize a world in which man was driven only by competition. In such a scenario man would be a total loner devoted to killing any other man entering his territory. He would also capture and hold as many fertile females as possible within his territory. In such a world modern man would never have come to be. For when we compare man to the other beasts of the world we see an animal that has neither fangs, claws or strength that are any match for the rest of the large predatory animals in one on one confrontations. In such circumstances, man would not be very successful and thusly would be widely dispersed with a low population density.

The fact that cooperative behavior yields success was no mystery to our ancestors, but the concept had one flaw as far as most of the Earth’s present and historic leaders were concerned. That flaw is that every man or woman is born with an innate urge to compete. None willingly accept the yoke that others would saddle them with, because they would rather be the one placing the yoke. In the past this difficulty was usually solved by forced enslavement. The present day best solution is capitalism, which rewards the average worker with a small share of the group-generated gains. The flaw in this system is that some become inordinately wealthy at the expense of the average while leaving the below average in a marginal existence. Idealistically, humans would work together, each doing what they do best and receiving an equal amount of the group gain, but the innate need to compete with others always breeds jealousies that eventually tears out this utopian concepts heart.

Some clever despots (communists) have disguised enslavement as the utopian dream, and fooled a great many people. The concept was/is so beguiling that people want to believe, but for such to work the commissar must not receive more than the worker, and every worker must work to the best of his or her abilities and, communism failed in both areas.

The fabric of society is interwoven with mankind’s competitive urge. Modern society takes pride in its civilization as compared with histories excesses. Yet we have grander coliseums than the Romans in which our versions of gladiators fight bloody battles in front of crowds of "civilized" men and women shouting for more violence as they cheer on their chosen champions. This represents only the tip of the competitive iceberg, which extends into everyday life on every level. We witness adults trying to "keep up with the Jones’s" and children playing at vicious hurtful games to establish dominance over other children. Even in our religious institutions there is a constant undercurrent of petty jealousies, which are simply an expression of adults jockeying for social dominance.

Competition is an integral part of mankind’s and all current life forms success, but in mans modern cooperative society it causes great turmoil and friction within our institutions from world to local government. Controlling this trait in humans is obviously the goal of all that dream of a utopian future, but it is still as illusive today as it was two millennia ago. The solution to this organizational problem is not obscure. Over the centuries many have devoted their lives to teaching mankind the way to the rewards of casting aside self-interest for group interest. The most notable was Jesus Christ who simply proclaimed, "Love your neighbor as yourself". This statement contains the solution to all of man’s organizational difficulties and yet the challenge of overcoming our natural competitive natures has made implementing this solution a rare and fleetingly transitory happening. Within our population there are at any one time perhaps 20 % that are capable of living this simple philosophy, and one might suppose that they would gravitate to each other and found a society that would be a shinning example to the rest. The fact that this happens so rarely is testament to the cunning voracity of the 20 % of our population that are devoted to the principle of taking advantage of any who are foolish enough to trust them. These predators leave in their wake innocents betrayed who are no longer so willing to easily believe others for fear of being made a fool or worse yet again.

Competition is one of the most fundamental tools in the evolutionary process and yet it is also a very great problem to the group aspirations of mankind. It is within our power to refine this natural force so that each of us competes only with self to improve abilities while accepting the strengths and weaknesses of others without prejudice or malice, for it is such that will help a united humanity achieve its destined greatness.