Well, if that was it's purpose, it failed miserably. Now we're constantly competing over status on the pyramid.

Everyone "knowing their place" is exactly that stagnation I was talking about. It's a system ripe for abuse and laziness.

And that's exactly what happened, is happening, and will continue to happen.

It does make a difference what exactly one is competing for and why. It also makes a difference who's allowed to compete and who isn't.

You're sounding a bit supremacist there, Rex.

If competition is king, the end all be all, the only point to living....then why is it so many (white) men are sovafraid of competing equally / on equitable terms against everyone?

If dominance is the best model, why is it always maintained through artificial means? Wouldn't you want to know and for everyone to know who actually IS dominant? Why's there so much fear around certain people in losing status in a dominance model? Should you have it if you haven't actually earned it?

Then how can anyone claim with a straight face that dominance hierarchy is best or natural?