Narcissism or the Next Stage of Human Evolution?

Woo Hoo! Third posting, and I'm actually looking forward to it. So far this blog thing isn't a bust. I started thinking about what I wanted to write, and I kept coming up with the same idea: something that mattered to me. This whole blog idea is about stuff that I want to write about. I'm sending my thoughts and ideas out into the world, hoping that people will read them, hoping more that people will respond, and then hoping that they like it (and me). Why would people read this? At first glance it is seems like one of the most narcissistic means of communication out there. Hey everyone! Look at me!

Lately, I've also been reading some other people's blog (The Voracious Vegan, Fatherhoody, and my newest favorite The Fabulous Life & Times of Miss L.A.) and I've been loving them. One focuses on activism and veganism, another on the joys and pitfalls of becoming a new father, and a third on the life a 20 something blogger. Why am I so enthralled with these? Yes, they're written by my friends, but can't I just call them on the phone a chat? Why do I need to read the nuances of their lives from a far? And why are they putting it out there in the first place. This whole blog scene is starting to really confound me.

Next, I started spending way too much time thinking about this and came up with some interesting conclusions:

What many of you might not know is that I hold an undergraduate degree in biology with a minor in anthropology. I focused primarily on genetics, human evolution, and primate social behavior. What we have here is a technologically advanced tick-picking fest! We are simply scratching each other's unreachable areas, while setting up social connections. Sound a little far fetched? Here's where this is all coming from:

The great apes and their monkey cousins have this particular habit of sitting around picking critters of each other, eating the pickings, and 'connecting'. What the casual observer doesn't see is that there is a very structured hierarchy of who can groom whom and when. Chimps of a certain social level can only groom chimps in other specific social areas without it becoming taboo. There are actually recorded instances of baboons hiding behind rocks to groom others that they should not be grooming so that they don't hurt the social standing among the other baboons. They now the system and it works. The going theory on language acquisition in primates (aka humans) is that language stuck around after its evolution because we were able to 'groom' people that we weren't around. ??? What does this mean ??? Chimps can only interact with the chimp right in front of them, whereas Sally and Judy can interact with any other person they choose simply by talking about them. Judy can talk to Bob, then pass that conversation onto Sally, without Sally ever actually talking to Bob. Clear as mud? Humans could now interact with larger and larger social groups, and keep those connections alive, without interacting with each and every individual. Step one towards the growth of tribes, villages, cities, and civilizations.

Why get into all of this? What does that have to do with my quest to post a blog? These postings aren't narcissistic at all. We humans are hard-wired to talk and to connect and to listen and to gossip. We want to talk and we want to be heard. Just think of the runaway successes that Facebook and MySpace have become. People could talk to one another without even being online at the same time. Remember those antiquated chat rooms, where you had to fumble through a typed conversation? No need for that anymore! Comment on what you had for breakfast and people will be commenting on it for the rest of the day! Blogs are just the next step in this ever evolving world of personal communication. People all over the world are grooming each other's egos and maintaining their social surroundings just like our early primate ancestors. What's next? The hive mind? Go Borg! No need to converse or type, just think it and all will hear.

All of this to say: what should I write about in my blog? Anything I want. If it matters to me, it matters to someone else. It will be read by someone, somewhere, and they will interpret it anyway they want. That's all that matters. We interact.