Jonathan, I think you brought up a great point about our ability to construct artificial identities to create bonds between people who otherwise might not care about one another – especially where you note the utility in doing so. The only question I have is: Can those identities actually evolve to the point where we create bonds between all other human beings? As I believe Kay correctly pointed out, we have a tendency to create identities so as to separate one another into categories of “we” and “they.” Similarly, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that the kinship bonds created among the “we” (even the artificial ones) are often dependant upon those “we” being able to contrast themselves to a “they” (i.e. any sense of kinship retains some idea of exclusivity). I hope that I am wrong and that we can expand our sense of kinship far enough to respect all human beings – but given our as track record so far, I remain somewhat skeptical.

-- TaylorMcGowan - 02 Mar 2010