Humans are very capable beings.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
We can organize our existence in many different ways.<\/p>\n
One option involves dividing our species into different\ngroups that act like teams in a massive sport.\u00a0\nWe can then divide the land into different territories with\nborders.\u00a0 We can then create a set of\nrules that grant absolute rights to\u2014or sovereignty <\/a>over\u2014everything\u00a0 inside each of these bordered territories to\none of these teams.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Additional rules can include the standard foundation of\ninternational law called the \u2018right of conquest.\u2019<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Under this principle, any land that a team\nconquers from another team belongs to the conqueror, together with anything on\nor under that land in a pie shaped wedge that goes to the center of the\nEarth.\u00a0 They can also include the rights\nof bequest:\u00a0 the rights of the current\nteam members transfer to their heirs and assigns for the rest of time.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The books of the New Perspective\nSeries<\/a><\/i> use the term \u2018territorial sovereignty\u2019 to refer to the above\nprinciple.\u00a0 All societies built on the\nprinciple of territorial sovereignty are called \u2018territorial sovereignty\nsocieties.\u2019\u00a0 Territorial sovereignty is one <\/i>of the possible foundations that can\nsupport societies of both animals and humans.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Humans did not invent the above principle.\u00a0 It was a foundational principle of many animal\nsocieties for millions of years before humans evolved.\u00a0 Obviously, these other animals did not have\nformal written rules for the definitions of the teams and rights they had as we\nhumans have, but they clearly had societies that were built on the above\nprinciple.\u00a0 Many breeds of wolves, for\nexample, have societies that clearly reflect the principle of territorial\nsovereignty.\u00a0 The breed called \u2018Painted\nWolves,\u2019 for example, have fixed territories with well marked borders. (Humans\nwont be able to identify the borders because our sense of smell isn\u2019t keen\nenough, but other wolves know exactly where they are.)\u00a0 The team patrols the borders.\u00a0 If they detect any members of their species\nthat are not members of their packs in their territory, they track them down\nand kill them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Wolves are noted for their teamwork, both in hunting and\ndefense of their territory.\u00a0 If a pack\nof wolves has territorial disputes with another pack, the conflict closely\nresembles human wars.\u00a0 The different\npacks attack each other and kill without remorse or compassion.\u00a0 Often, they fight until every last member of\none of the packs is dead.\u00a0 There is a\nvery good video of this in the BBC documentary \u2018Dynasties, The Painted Wolves\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This image from BBC documentary following endangered species fighting for their survival. The Series documents complex hunting and fighting behavior, involving a war to the death between two rival packs.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n \u00a0 <\/p>\n These identities of the animals that are in each pack change\nover time as older animals die and are replaced by younger pack members.\u00a0 But the pack has an identify that continues\nindefinitely (until the pack loses a war and gets wiped out; then the territory\nbelongs to the conquering pack).\u00a0 This\nworks very much like the human entities called \u2018countries:\u2019 the identities of\nthe individuals within each country changes as time passes, but the identify of\nthe country remains the same.\u00a0 (Again,\nthis lasts until the country is conquered, at which time the conquering country\ngains control of that land under the principle of right\nof conquest<\/span>.)\u00a0 <\/p>\n Why do wolves <\/i>do\nthis?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n We can actually understand this but, before we consider it,\nlets look at one thing we can exclude:\u00a0\u00a0\nWolves do not <\/i>have meetings\nwhere they get together and conduct scientific discussions of the different\nkinds of societies that wolves and other animals can have, then decide \u2018this\none is for us.\u2019\u00a0 We know wolves don\u2019t do\nthis because they don\u2019t have the intellectual capability needed for this kind\nof analysis.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The term \u2018instinct\u2019\n<\/a>basically means anything that motivates animal behavior that can\u2019t be\nexplained by logical analysis or intentional decisions.\u00a0 This means that all <\/i>animal behavior falls into the category of instinct.\u00a0 Humans also have instincts, of course, but\nnot all of our behavior is instinctive.\u00a0\nThere are times when our instincts tell us to do one thing and our\nlogical minds tell us to do something else.\u00a0\nBut this conflict doesn\u2019t come up for wolves.\u00a0 Something in their genetic or cultural heratige pushes them to\ndivide their species into packs, divide the land into territories, and allocate\neach territory to whichever pack can control it with force.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a reason\nfor this kind of instinct.\u00a0 Fact Based History<\/a><\/i> goes over it in\ndetail, but here is a quick description:\u00a0\nSome land is rich and can support animals under conditions that allow\nthem to remain there and live off of a fairly small territory for their entire\nlives, without ever having to leave.\u00a0\nAnthropologists call these parcels of land \u2018monopolizable.\u2019\u00a0 If a land can be monopolized by an apex\nanimal, it must <\/i>be monopolized.\u00a0 Here is the reason:\u00a0 <\/p>\n Many animals evolve under conditions that force them into\nthis particular ecological niche.\u00a0 They\ndivide into teams (packs, troops, teams, tribes, or \u2018countries\u2019) and fight over\nterritory.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n Wolves provide a pretty obvious example, but many animals\nhave territorial sovereignty societies.\u00a0\nThis includes several species of the genus \u2018Gorilla\u2019<\/a> and several species\nof the genus \u2018Pan,\u2019<\/a> our\nclosest animal ancestors.\u00a0\u00a0 (We share\nabout 99% of our DNA with the Pans.)\u00a0 <\/p>\n Some of our evolutionary ancestors clearly had societies\nbuilt on territorial sovereignty.\u00a0 Those\non the \u2018pre-human animal\u2019 side of the evolution progression would not have been\nable to use logic and reason, so the forces that pushed them to act this way\nwould be \u2018instinctual,\u2019 by definition.\u00a0\nAs time passed (millions of years), these animals competed with each\nother for resources.\u00a0 Some were smarter:\u00a0 they had genes that cause them to grow\nslightly larger and more complex brains, capable of processing more\ninformation.\u00a0 They were able to meet\ntheir needs better than their peers and had better chances of living long\nenough to breed and pass these genes to the next generation.\u00a0 Each step was probably very tiny.\u00a0 But over a long period of time, these\nimprovements compounded.\u00a0 If you could\nwatch a \u2018fast forward\u2019 version of this multi-million year period, you would see\nthat there was progress.\u00a0 The\nintelligence level of the average member of the Pan genus got higher and\nhigher.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They used their greater intelligence to do the things their\ninstincts told them to do better than their ancestors had done.\u00a0 Their instincts told them to form into\ntight-knit loyal troops (the name for \u2018a grouping of members of the Pan genus)\nand fight over territory.\u00a0 As they got\nsmarter, they were able to make better and better tools to use as weapons.\u00a0 They were also able to organize themselves\nbetter so they could work as teams.\u00a0 <\/p>\n We now have tools we can use to trace the progress of our\nancestors almost generation by generation.\u00a0\n(DNA sequencing allows us to determine when new genes are overlaid on\nexisting genes.\u00a0 We can tell which came\nfirst.)\u00a0\u00a0 We have dating tools we can\nuse to understand when these animals passed certain key milestones in their\nprogress.\u00a0 (The use of fire, for\nexample, the use of clothing, the exit from Africa to \u2018the rest of the world,\u2019\nthe progress across \u2018the rest of the world,\u2019 the assertion of domination over\nlower species, and the use of complex language are \u2018milestones.\u2019)\u00a0 We can understand where they lived and how\nthey lived at each stage in development. <\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/fbhd.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com\/9\/wolves.jpg\")
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Imagine first a piece of rich\nhunting land (from the perspective of a wolf) that is not being\nmonopolized.\u00a0 Any wolf can come and hunt\nthere.\u00a0 Since it is rich, a lot of\nwolves will show up and start hunting.\u00a0\nSay that, at first, the wolves are tolerant and let other wolves come to\nthe territory.\u00a0 Eventually, there will\nbe more wolves there than the land can support.\u00a0 At this point, they will start to fight.\u00a0 Wolves that aren\u2019t willing to fight (those\nthat are easily intimidated) will be removed by more aggressive animals.\u00a0 Some of the aggressive animals will form\ninto packs that work together.\u00a0 These\npacks will be able to easily remove individuals or smaller packs.\u00a0 The packs that are better at working\ntogether will win and remove the less-organized packs.\u00a0 Eventually, each territory will be\ncontrolled by a very well organized pack whose members act as a team both to\nexploit the resources of that territory and protect their borders.\u00a0 In the right conditions, nature (the laws of\nevolution) will require <\/i>territorial\nsovereignty in areas that meet certain requirements, for certain animals.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Animals born into these areas\nwill be raised and trained to be aggressive and possessive.\u00a0 Any that have genes that prevent these\nbehaviors will be the first to die in battles.\u00a0\nTheir genes will go away.\u00a0 Any\nthat resist the training and are unable to work together well in fights will\nalso perish preferentially.\u00a0 Over time,\nonly those that have the \u2018instincts\u2019 that are needed to help the pack protect\nits land will be left.\u00a0 No matter where\nthey come from, the instincts will be passed from generation to\ngeneration.\u00a0 <\/p>\nEvolution<\/h2>\n