# What things do humans do instinctually

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-do-humans-do-instinctually/796375>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 15, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-do-humans-do-instinctually/796375 "2017-09-15T01:38:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-do-humans-do-instinctually/796375/61 "2017-10-01T06:55:56Z")

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> [@Riemann](#):
>
> You seemed to be under the misconception that if our thinking is _in any way_ conditioned by nurture (cultural transmission), then it is not instinctual. But this is not an either/or question. Our brains evolved, just as squirrel brains evolved, and they are not blank slates.
> 
> Cultural transmission is far more important for humans than for other animals - that’s how we dominate the world. But clearly we evolved _from_ animals that operate instinctually. And it makes little sense to suppose that evolution would somehow have wiped all design from our brains, to turn just _human_ brains into blank slates, into hardware without any software or operating system.
> 
> With language, for example, it’s an open question just what our genetic (instinctual) endowment consists of. But nobody seriously questions that there are _both_ genetic (instinctual) and environmental (cultural) contributions to language acquisition.

Please don’t imagine that I think we are not slaves to instinct. We have already killed this planet, the only one we have, and we didn’t do it because we were smart.

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