What do you think we are "born" knowing? LiptonCambell: Birds build nests with out being taught by parents. ants build colonies, again with out foreknowledge. Socrates' geometry/ algebra experiment with an unknown youth "Proving" we have the basics of math hard wired in the brain/mind. So what other things could be inborn in us?  _Bren_: I think that we are born with the ability to feel discomfort. Everything else is learned as a result of trying to avoid it. I'm going to sound like a nut, but here is my theory.... I think that there is a lot to be said for "shutting up and listening." I think that if you can turn the chatter down in your head and follow your gut, it makes finding a direction much easier. Personally, in my more focused days, I used to find myself picking up my phone just before it rang, and on several occasions I moved my car just in time as the meter maid pulled up. I think that birds build nests because they don't have giant egos to get in the way. There's no internal chatter.  StuckInTheSixties: I assume were born with the ability to suck the nipple. Food. No training necessary, I'm guessing.  Anne aka Mags: Actually birds aren't born with the ability to build nests. They are born with the ability to prepare a home for new arrival(s). Cuckoos never build their own nests, the dump their eggs in other species' nests and leave it to the surrogate mothers to raise them. As far as humans are concerned...we are born with the ability to breathe under water for a short amount of time, but that is a physical ability that changes as we are weaned. Most mothers begin to 'nest' (ie prepare their home) shortly befor the end of their pregnancies. It seems to me that most creatures have this instinct built in. Theorists will also raise the debate of "Nature vs Nurture". ie does our environment affect our behaviour or is it something inbuilt? There have been many researches into this including ones involving twins separated at birth. Me? I think its both! _Bren_: Is knowing something the same as feeling compelled to do something? I'm thinking the word "knowing" may have more mental properties than is appropriate for the nature of the original question. Here is my thought: A newborn kitten will feel discomfort through feelings of hunger. It knows it is uncomfortable. He doesn't know, at first that the nipple will relieve him. Sometimes you see them start out on the foot of a sibling or way off the map, up by mom's neck somewhere. His instinct, present in the absence of thought, compels him to find something to stick in his mouth, until his need is met. Naturally, he is likely to stay close to mom where it is warm (to avoid feeling cold). Eventually, he learns the smell of the milk and the feel of where to find it. StuckInTheSixties: I don't think so. Although some babies seem to instinctively paddle around, I don't think they put together the rhythm of paddling and lifting the face from the water to breathe, etc. And plenty of people simply don't know how to swim, and will drown if they go into deep water.  flashie: y i wasnt sure, just had a vague memory of a video clip of a russian infant being chucked into a swimming pool and the little kid swimming. i best not try it with any friends newborns StuckInTheSixties: I think if you just tossed one in the swimming pool and waited, you'd wind up with a dead baby ... and perhaps the basis for a really tasteless, retarded joke or something. Anne aka Mags: Actually, scientist have proven that for the first 6mths of a baby's life, they can breath under water for upto 30seconds (see doco series: The Human Body). This is because a baby's esophegus is different at the start of life to aid in breatfeeding. As the baby grows, this changes into what we have as adults to allow solid foods to be digested. StuckInTheSixties: Hence my use of the word "waited" in my semi-sicko suggestion of tossing the baby into the deep end.  I won't object if someone slaps me! LiptonCambell: Lol I was looking up a video to prove/disprove this. Instead I see a video where some couple has their infant wander into the pool and floats on its back.....while they watch....for over five minutes... I get their message- teach your kids to stay boyent in pools to prevent childhood deaths......but it still was a lil disturbing. I mean, its not like they left the kid alone with a camera- they were zooming in and everything....  Ms_Mafdet_The Great: I don't believe we know anything that we didn't already learn in a past life, and by "past life", I don't mean that there is necessarily an eternal soul that has multiple lives - I mean, maybe we (and I think there is a scientific hypothesis/theory regarding this) each have recorded in cell memory (What we may call "instinct"/knowledge) certain life experiences, past down through our bloodlines, via genetics, that record every experience we (people in our ancestry) have ever had, and at the relevant time, "activates" in the form of "intuition", or can be recalled by conscious memory as knowledge.  lori100: Seth by Jane Roberts-----------"-When you arrive, or emerge, into physical life, not only is your mind not a blank slate, waiting for the scrolls that experience will write upon it, but you are already equipped with a memory bank far surpassing that of any computer. You face your first day upon the planet with skills and abilities already built in, though they may or may not be used; and they are not merely the result of heredity as you think of it"  Evelyn99: That’s a instinct. A newborn I guess don’t have any thoughts just like no language. But learning fast think the thoughts are around hunger discomfort comfort and they know mom and dad specially mom . | Philosophy Chat Room 9 People Chatting Similar Conversations |
