Useful and harmful conditioning in humans

Respect for kids and our bodies is in order

Higher animals have instincts but can also be conditioned. The latter is to sort of learn to react similarly to certain situations without pause. This can be ingrained by things like punishment (fear) and reward. This is because animals already have a built-in sense to flee pain and run after pleasure.

Outright denigrating are mostly well-meaning parents who treat their children this way. They even get convinced it ‘works.’ They punish, and most kids would obey. They praise, and most kids will try to gain again.

Contributing to the resemblance of this working is that obedience and greed/competitiveness are terribly overrated. In a world threatened by anti-democratic laws, rulers, and elites preferring short-term greed over long-term climate survival for all, submission is not always so good. In cultures bent on rivalry and jealousy, being goody-two-shoes can kill.

Some say that humans are much higher creatures than animals, and some say that we are just like any other animal. Both parties are wrong partly. On the one hand, we may choose loftier than animals, to brave discomfort and forgo temptation for a higher calling or principle. On the other hand, much of us functions as animals still. Both aspects we see in all humans.

When we think to condition our children, we disrespect them, as we treat them as if they are subhuman. Of course, they dislike hurt and like reward, but hurting and bribing them is not good parenting. Praise them not as an authority (‘This is good’) but as an equal sharing your feelings (‘I like it’). If you don’t get them or think they made a mistake, ask them (‘Why did you do it like that?’), not to question or criticize them, but because you’re curious and want to help if you could. Your kids are not inferior to you.

Still, we could ask why people must have the lower possibility of getting conditioned. It might be to make biological systems work better. One example: If you’re thirsty and drink until you’re not, you’ve drunk too much. By the time enough water is absorbed in your intestines, still more water from your throat is on its way to being absorbed. If you remove all flued until you don’t have too much anymore, you were still making urine while your blood vessels are not overfilled anymore. A solution to this overshooting is conditioning. Conditioning taught me it will be just enough when I drink so and so much when I got such and such thirsty.

Nice is that, as humans, we can follow our will to trump our instincts and conditioning. We can be thirsty and not drink because it’s Yom Kippur. Animals can only do that when conditioned with fear. Humans can postpone drinking for a good idea that we love. We don’t need fear.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. 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When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. 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