Hi Silvia:  That sounds like a fascinating study.  If you happen upon the
reference to it sometime, please send it to me.

Let me ask you your views on the following cosmological problem that I have
with the conclusion.  I have no problem accepting the conclusion of the bird
behaviour FOR BIRDS.  Indeed, geese in flight do a similar thing, rotating
out of the most difficult point position.  But I have an existential belief
that there is another plane of existence in addition to survival in this
dimension.  Specifically, that the universe as we know it is the product of
an awesome energy-information source commonly called God or equivalent.  I
suspect that there are many paths to learning about and synchronizing our
activities to be in harmony with this source. Through historical accident,
the path that I have traveled is Christianity, one tenet of which is "love
your enemy" (turn the other cheek, etc.).  Unfortunately, I often fail at
accomplishing this imperative.  However, when I succeed, I find it incredibly
liberalizing in the sense of freeing me from my antipathies and somehow
transforming the negative relationship into at least a tolerable one and
sometimes a positive one.  That, in turn, has implications for a kind of
"force-field" for proliferating goodness (altruism, etc.).  This, however,
seems to be a contradiction of the bird behaviour which shuns the
non-reciprocators (or negative people?).  Yet in my experience it seems to
work in a paradoxical fashion and actually increase survival power by
neutralizing negative and destructive tendencies and relationships.  If I
have managed to make sense in communicating what I am trying to say, how
would you react to it?  Thanks.  Dan

Silvia Winowski wrote:

> > Dan Koenig writes:
>
> >Silvia, I think that the study you were referring to had its origins
> >with the TMers.  They have done studies that claim they can reduce crime
> >rates in a community if they get a certain proportion of the people
> >(perhaps 1%) in the community to meditate everyday.
>
> No Dan, I have heard of the theory of morphogenic fields
> which would substanciate the possibility of personal transformation
> as a way of exerting an influence on the entire species. I would
> agree this needs a lot more research to convince me but the study
> I was referring to is more along the lines of the quote you mentioned:
>
> >the power of one is in everyday putting one stone upon
> >another, working in the community, speaking truth to power, and refusing
> >to join forces with the pestilence.
>
> The study was done in three parts by ethologists who
> wanted to understand why humans are the only species
> who's behavior is destroying the entire species. They
> chose a community of birds to study how they maintained
> social stability without self-destruction.
>
> During the first part of the study they spent several
> years observing this community of birds to detect the
> specific conduct that led to self preservation. They
> discovered that the birds had a parasite that lived on
> their skin. They needed the other birds of the community
> to help them take off the parasites. To accomplish this,
> "all" of the birds would adopt a very "cooperative"
> attitude at every moment and towards any bird they
> encountered. In other words, each bird would "clean"
> any other birds that passed by him.
>
> After a certain time the scientists noticed that the
> birds "remembered" who had helped them get rid of the
> parasites. If one bird cleaned another but the other
> bird did not return the "favor" the first bird would
> remember who the "uncooperative" individual was and
> would never again clean him of parasites.
>
> The outcome was obvious!...If the "uncooperative" bird
> did this "negative" behavior too often he would not be
> cleaned of parasites by many other birds in the community
> towards whom he had been "selfish" and would ultimately
> die himself of the parasites.
>
> So they discovered there was a "natural" behavior that
> rid the community of unhealthy, uncooperative,
> self-destructive behavior. They took this information
> and applied it towards humans. Do humans have a cooperative
> and positive initial attitude towards each other?...Well,
> they devised a "game" to see exactly what the situation
> was among humans. It would take too long to describe this
> game but the outcome was astounding!....
> The overwhelming majority of the participants adopted a
> "I'll hurt you and take advantage of you before you can
> do the same to me" attitude.....Imagine if the birds had
> adopted this behavior! What would have happened?....
> They would have ALL died of the parasites!
> Not unlike what is happening to us...We are destroying
> ourselves because we "judge" the other "bird" we have in
> front of us without checking out to see what his true
> intentions are first.
>
> So what would be the self-preserving creative attitude
> for us humans to take? To have an intital positive and
> cooperative attitude towards everybody we encounter
> "assuming" they are the same. Now, if their behavior
> subsequently proves they aren't.....Then our behavior
> you should change accordingly towards that specific
> individual without generalizing and assuming other
> individuals will be the same.
>
> The scientists took this information and then extrapolated
> it to a hypothetical human population represented
> mathematically in a computer program. They asked:
> What percentage would it take in "x" population with
> "y" characteristics to transform it into "z" population
> with "p" behavior? Well, amazingly they discovered that
> the percentage was actually quite small! Somewhere around
> the order of 10-15% of the entire population!
>
> So what is the conclusion of this?.....If each of us
> adopts a positive, cooperative attitude towards every
> person we meet everyday of our lives assuming we will
> be corresponded but being "smart" enough to remember who
> didn't and avoid cooperating with that specific individual...
> through time it is the single biggest contribution we can
> make to the wellfare of our species as a whole.
> Silvia