When You Meet a Bear

Alan Wilson, CC BY-SA 3.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

In a recent note, I suggested that sapiens (wise) was Second Nature for us humans, our First Nature being insapiens (unwise). I recant. Defining our First Nature as what it is lacking isn't quite fair. Our First Nature is, after all, what kept us alive and thriving in a dangerous world while our Second Nature was taking a few million years to evolve.

So give a cheer for the part of us so essential we can't even settle on a good name for it: instinct, intuition, gut feeling, heart and soul, spirit. Daniel Kahneman called it "thinking fast", since it is effortless, simplistic, automatic, reflexive, and instantly ready. First Nature is that. Save it for when you meet a bear.

First Nature is also egoic, aimed at defense of the self, and by extension, protection of groups on which we depend: my family, my tribe, my religion, my country, my species. The in-group is treated with respect, generosity, compassion, trust, all the warm fuzzy stuff, simply because we are us. Nothing wrong with that. However, the outsiders get indifference, suspicion, exclusion, aggression, exploitation, all the nasty stuff, just because they are not us. Group-think is effortless, quick and easy. And useful if you meet a bear.

Thinking slow is Second Nature. It is Second Nature to gather more information, assess the situation, respond in an appropriate way to solve a problem, evaluate results and modify the plan. 

Also, it is Second Nature to direct our attention outward to the other. For example, if the stranger is a potential friend, the costs of conflict can be avoided by some congenial discussion maybe making us stronger together. That is Second Nature thinking, not much good on bears. For bears, you carry,...let me think,... a jar of honey, an air horn, a can of pepper spray, or a gun. I gotta go shopping. 

Grrrrrrrrr! 

Too late.

Also, growing the group is not without problems. Larger groups require more structure and regulation, which attracts and enables those who gravitate to positions of power and control. Control could get us stuck in habitual submission or disobedience. There may be yelling but no discussion because nobody is listening. That is First Nature, lots of yelling and no listening. Save it for when you meet a bear.

Second Nature in a group requires focusing on problem solving and finding consensus, a trading of information and opinions until there is some agreement. Don't use it on a bear. 

So, First Nature and Second Nature each have their domain. If a bear enters parliament, I suggest First Nature. Get under the desk or out the door or something. Don't send your concerns to a committee to find out who is responsible for inviting the bear. On the other hand, when scientists are saying we are approaching climate tipping points and if we don't stop burning carbon the world as we know it will collapse in a few decades, dont yell about taxes. The government isn't going to fix this even if they try. When they try, we voters get all First Nature and vote in a new government that won't tax carbon. The new government just wants the power and glory, and will do nothing about climate until everything collapses. When that happens, First Nature will be back in style. Well, there won't be bears. They will be extinct. But there will be people with guns...maybe...for awhile.

There are signs that the climate emergency might be solved by smaller groups whose leaders don't care about the next election. That's you and me. We've got work to do. Let's fix this. No, it isn't going to be easy. But this is a slow emergency. Maybe there's enough time. Fixing it is Second Nature or Third, and we're gonna try to get things right.

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