X-Git-Url: http://unremediatedgender.space/source?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=content%2Fdrafts%2Ffriendship-practices-of-the-secret-sharing-plain-speech-valley-squirrels.md;h=c9cac45147a91c58ab3f18abf61beb2a98fc6a17;hb=86e4e6d2920941ac91bf3cf7cd6ba9585f481e9a;hp=1cbd4d9c4ab1e846fa9dce238ac539c6741d6bbb;hpb=66f1fdd250b0f769002e56dad37104058c4e181f;p=Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git diff --git a/content/drafts/friendship-practices-of-the-secret-sharing-plain-speech-valley-squirrels.md b/content/drafts/friendship-practices-of-the-secret-sharing-plain-speech-valley-squirrels.md index 1cbd4d9..c9cac45 100644 --- a/content/drafts/friendship-practices-of-the-secret-sharing-plain-speech-valley-squirrels.md +++ b/content/drafts/friendship-practices-of-the-secret-sharing-plain-speech-valley-squirrels.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Title: Friendship Practices of the Secret-Sharing Plain Speech Valley Squirrels -Date: 2017-01-01 5:00 +Date: 2022-08-30 5:00 Category: fiction Tags: epistemic horror, deniably allegorical Status: draft @@ -20,19 +20,11 @@ Another adaptive infromation-processing instinct in subspecies 9792 and 9794 was The coincidental conjunction of a friendship-forming instinct, a novel-secret-seeking instinct, _and_ a nearby distinct subspecies with similar properties, led to some unusual behavior patterns. Given the different survival-relevant opportunities in their respective habitats, each subspecies predominantly hoarded _different_ secrets: the secret of how to jump and land on the thinner branches of the reedy pilot tree was of little relevance to the daily activity of a west-valley ground squirrel, but the secret of how to bury nuts without making it obvious that the ground had been upturned was of little import to an east-valley tree squirrel. -But the squirrels' _novelty-seeking instincts_ didn't track such distinctions. Secrets from one subspecies thus functioned as a superstimulus to the other subspecies, on account of being so exotic, thus making "special" cross-species friendships particularly desirable and sought-after. +But the squirrels' _novelty-seeking instincts_ didn't track such distinctions. Secrets from one subspecies thus functioned as a superstimulus to the other subspecies, on account of being so exotic, thus making "special" cross-subspecies friendships particularly desirable and sought-after. -At the same time, subspecies differences in social instincts also made them particularly _frustrating_, as friendships: for example, west-valley ground squirrels tended to have a more anxious disposition (reflecting the need to be alert to predators on open terrain), whereas east-valley tree squirrels tended to have a more rambunctious nature. +At the same time, subspecies differences in social instincts also made them particularly _frustrating_, as friendships. Particular squirrels had a subspace of their behavior that characterized them as different from other individuals of the same age and sex: _personality_ being the technical term (coined in Dunbar's volume on social systems). The friendship-forming instinct was most stimulated between squirrels with similar or at least compatible personalities, and the two subspecies had different personality distributions that resulted in frequent incompatibilities: for example, west-valley ground squirrels tended to have a more anxious disposition (reflecting the need to be alert to predators on open terrain), whereas east-valley tree squirrels tended to have a more rambunctious nature (as was useful for leaf fights, but which tended to put west-valley ground squirrels on edge). -[TODO: frustration cont'd ...] - -At this, some extremely naïve novice students of historical mammology inquire: [TODO ...] - -To which it is replied: - -A few particularly naïve students inquire further: [TODO ...] - -To which it is replied: there's _no reason whatsoever_ for evolution to select for that, _dummy_. What's wrong with you? +Really, the typical west-valley ground squirrel and the typical east-valley tree squirrel wouldn't have been friends at all, if not for the tantalizing allure of exotic secrets. Thus, special cross-subspecies friendships tended to be successfully formed much less often than they were desired. And so, many, many times in the days of auld lang syne, a squirrel in a burrow or a tree would sadly settle down to rest for the night, lamenting, "I wish I had a special friend. Someone who understood me. Someone to share my secrets with."