zappy

I recently heard that a group of astronomers at my university are searching for planets similar to earth which could support life like our own. This got me thinking. What if we found an empty planet, perfectly suitable to support life like our own. To me a planet like this could serve as a grounds for some interesting scientific research.
What if we create the conditions necessary for humans to survive by adding animals and plants to this planet. Then, we raise a group of humans on the planet, however, raise them without any exposure to language, media or technology. All ethical and moral considerations aside I think this would be a very interesting experiment. Would these humans act like anything similar to what we consider a human to be? Would these humans create Gods to worship like we have? How would male and female humans interact in an environment free from the norms of dating/marriage? Would humans naturally have morals similar to the ones we have today?
I for one think that a human raised in these conditions would certainly not act like any of us. Society transforms us into something which we would otherwise have not naturally become. Anyway what do you guys think?

Yana Usdi

In some respects they'd be the same. If they are social they'll need standards of conduct even if it's just instinct. Even piranha in a feeding frenzy don't attack their own and that's not going to change for it being another planet.

In other respects they'd probably be a lot different. The closest to humans in DNA on earth are probably the chimp and the bonobo but in actions they vary a lot. Between the two I like the bonobo a lot better. Chimps remind me too much of us, too much conflict, aggression, and violence. That's even in their own tribe. Other tribes I don't even like to think about it.

Bonobos on the other hand found a different way to fight their 'war'. The two sides gather up, hoot and yell at each other for a while, then the females charge across the lines and they have themselves a party. Sex as a negotiating tool. Beats the hell out of having your head bashed in, between the two I'd rather be a bonobo.

In some respects such as we can't be too hard on our own we'd have to be very similar, but in the details for how we work it out there could be a lot of variety. Including ways we've never even considered I'd guess.

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"Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day." -Dan Moon

Always be kind to animals, Morning, noon and night: For animals have feelings too, And furthermore, they bite. - John Gardner

zappy

I saw a documentary on bonobos recently, and they are really interesting animals. The similarities between us and them are amazing. Well asides from the whole "sex negotiation" which i think we could all learn a little from lol.
If i were raised in the wild I like to picture myself reverting back to hunter gatherer ways wearing ragged clothing and wielding a sharpened stick.
Another experiment to do on this planet would be to plant cannabis there. Who would be the first human to attempt to smoke this strange new plant? And for that matter who was the first human on our planet to decide to roll up some bud and smoke it? Seriously, what the hell would they have been thinking?

Buzzby

Human morals and social norms are obviously man-made. If they were natural, they'd be the same in every culture. They aren't.

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Kushy

Just look at isolated tribes in Africa who get absolutely no exposure to the modern world. They don't watch MTV or look at the internet for any outside influences. They analyze the world and create their own culture such as a tribe or group. I assume any group of humans placed on another planet would do the same.

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Finally de' herbs come around

jmhereiam

So they would just start from scratch like our ancestors did at one time? What if thats what happened to us? lol.. There god would probably be us, I mean we would have to check in on them to raise them to keep them alive to where they could begin to build there own world, or we would be the aliens to them. If I was high I could really get to thinking on this lol... unfortunately I'm not

zappy

That would be really messed up, but interesting at the same time. We could convince them that we are their Gods. How would they know any better than to believe?