Are humans fully hard-wired to survive?

[Tropic Love]

I often hear that humans are wired to survive for as long as possible. However, if this is true then why do we get cravings for things like soda or candy when we know that they will hurt our health? Thanks for reading and enjoy your day 

[lmfao]

@Tropic Love To give you a bog-standard evolutionary answer, we enjoy the taste of and crave unhealthy food like soda and candy because they are high in calories. For millions/billions of years our ancestors have been struggling to find sustenance in the wild, and so when our ancestors came across a high calorie source it is beneficial for them to eat as much as they can from it because finding enough food to survive used to be a struggle. But our lifestyle in modern times differs greatly from that of our ancestors in the sense that having enough food to survive is no longer a struggle, but we have ancient machinery within us which is adapted to a different lifestyle.

And as for why humans are hard-wired to survive as a species, consider if the converse were true. In this alternate scenario, our ancestors die out and they don't give birth to us. By definition, any species which currently survive must have the desire to survive passed down in their DNA otherwise we wouldn't be here. 

Edited September 2, 2018 by lmfao

[Tropic Love]

Love that reply.

[cetus]

@Tropic Love The ego feeds at the expence of the bodys health. The more conscious you become of it the more you'll see it in a different light. It's sad in a way. Why would someone harm a tree. Or a flower? Or a gummy fish?

[Leo Gura]

The downside of hardwiring anything is that you then become inflexible in a rapidly changing environment.

The most effective survival strategy is not mechanical, but highly intelligent, fluid, and conscious.