
07 May STAND UP STRAIGHT WITH YOUR SHOULDERS BACK (JORDAN B. PETERSON)
However, these interesting and delicious crustaceans are very much worth considering. Their nervous systems are comparatively simple, with large, easily observablen neurons the magic cells of the brain. Because of this, scientists have been able to map the neural circuitry of lobsters very accurately. This has helped us understand the structure and function of the brain and behaviour of more complex animals, including human beings.
If you catch a few
dozen, and transport them to a new location, you can observe their status-forming rituals
and techniques. Each lobster will first begin to explore the new territory, partly to map its
details, and partly to find a good place for shelter. Lobsters learn a lot about where they
live, and they remember what they learn. If you startle one near its nest, it will quickly zip
back and hide there. If you startle it some distance away, however, it will immediately
dart towards the nearest suitable shelter, previously identified and now remembered.
A lobster needs a safe hiding place to rest, free from predators and the forces of nature.
Furthermore, as lobsters grow, they moult, or shed their shells, which leaves them soft
and vulnerable for extended periods of time. A burrow under a rock makes a good lobster
home, particularly if it is located where shells and other detritus can be dragged into place to cover the entrance, once the lobster is snugly ensconced inside. However, there may be only a small number of high-quality shelters or hiding places in each new territory. They are scarce and valuable. Other lobsters continually seek them out.
This means that lobsters often encounter one another when out exploring. Researchers
have demonstrated that even a lobster raised in isolation knows what to do when such a thing happens.
It has complex defensive and aggressive behaviours built right into its
nervous system. It begins to dance around, like a boxer, opening and raising its claws,
moving backward, forward, and side to side, mirroring its opponent, waving its opened
claws back and forth. At the same time, it employs special jets under its eyes to direct
streams of liquid at its opponent. The liquid spray contains a mix of chemicals that tell
the other lobster about its size, sex, health, and mood.
Sometimes one lobster can tell immediately from the display of claw size that it is
much smaller than its opponent, and will back down without a fight. The chemical
information exchanged in the spray can have the same effect, convincing a less healthy or less aggressive lobster to retreat. That’s dispute resolution Level 1.
If the two lobsters are very close in size and apparent ability, however, or if the exchange of liquid has been insufficiently informative, they will proceed to dispute resolution Level 2. With antennae whipping madly and claws folded downward, one will advance, and the other retreat.
Then the defender will advance, and the aggressor retreat. After a couple of rounds of this
behaviour, the more nervous of the lobsters may feel that continuing is not in his best interest. He will flick his tail reflexively, dart backwards, and vanish, to try his luck elsewhere. If neither blinks, however, the lobsters move to Level 3, which involves genuine combat.
This time, the now enraged lobsters come at each other viciously, with their claws
extended, to grapple. Each tries to flip the other on its back. A successfully flipped lobster
will conclude that its opponent is capable of inflicting serious damage. It generally gives
up and leaves (although it harbours intense resentment and gossips endlessly about the
victor behind its back). If neither can overturn the other—or if one will not quit despite being flipped—the lobsters move to Level 4. Doing so involves extreme risk, and is not something to be engaged in without forethought: one or both lobsters will emerge damaged from the ensuing fray, perhaps fatally The animals advance on each other, with increasing speed. Their claws are open, so they can grab a leg, or antenna, or an eye-stalk, or anything else exposed and vulnerable.
Once a body part has been successfully grabbed, the grabber will tail-flick backwards,sharply, with claw clamped firmly shut, and try to tear it off. Disputes that have escalated
to this point typically create a clear winner and loser. The loser is unlikely to survive,particularly if he or she remains in the territory occupied by the winner, now a mortal enemy.
In the aftermath of a losing battle, regardless of how aggressively a lobster has behaved,
it becomes unwilling to fight further, even against another, previously defeated opponent.
A vanquished competitor loses confidence, sometimes for days. Sometimes the defeat can have even more severe consequences. If a dominant lobster is badly defeated, its brain basically dissolves. Then it grows a new, subordinate’s brain—one more appropriate to its new, lowly position.
Its original brain just isn’t sophisticated to manage the transformation from king to bottom dog without virtually complete dissolution and regrowth. Anyone who has experienced a painful transformation after a serious defeat in romance or career may feel some sense of kinship with the once successful crustacean.
The Neurochemistry of Defeat and Victory
A lobster loser’s brain chemistry differs importantly from that of a lobster winner. This is reflected in their relative postures. Whether a lobster is confident or cringing depends on the ratio of two chemicals that modulate communication between lobster neurons:serotonin and octopamine. Winning increases the ratio of the former to the latter.
A lobster with high levels of serotonin and low levels of octopamine is a cocky,strutting sort of shellfish, much less likely to back down when challenged. This is because serotonin helps regulate postural flexion. A flexed lobster extends its appendages so thatit can look tall and dangerous, like Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti Western. When a lobster that has just lost a battle is exposed to serotonin, it will stretch itself out, advance even on former victors, and fight longer and harder.
The drugs prescribed to depressed human beings, which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have much the same chemical and behavioural effect. In one of the more staggering demonstrations of the evolutionary continuity of life on Earth, Prozac even cheers up lobsters.
High serotonin/low octopamine characterizes the victor. The opposite neurochemical configuration, a high ratio of octopamine to serotonin, produces a defeated-looking,scrunched-up, inhibited, drooping, skulking sort of lobster, very likely to hang around street corners, and to vanish at the first hint of trouble. Serotonin and octopamine also regulate the tail-flick reflex, which serves to propel a lobster rapidly backwards when it needs to escape. Less provocation is necessary to trigger that reflex in a defeated lobster.
12 RULES FOR LIFE
Jordan B. Peterson