{"id":58437,"date":"2025-10-06T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=58437"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:11:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T20:11:00","slug":"the-love-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=58437","title":{"rendered":"The Love of Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I find the following misquotation fascinating: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money is the root of all evil.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual quote is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The love of money<\/em><\/strong> is the root of all evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quote comes from the 6 Timothy, in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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9<\/sup>Those who want to get rich\u00a0fall into temptation and a trap\u00a0and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>For the love of money\u00a0is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith\u00a0and pierced themselves with many griefs.<\/p>\nBible Gateway<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

[Ed. note: nothing is more tedious that hearing a money-grubbing preacher cherry-pick Bible versus to achieve his own selfish goals. Guys like this (and many other bad situations) cause many people to reject any kind of spiritual introspection. This is sad and adds to the shame of the money-grubbers.

But at WLBOTT<\/strong>, we take a different approach. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.<\/em> At WLBOTT<\/strong>, we have open (and mostly empty) minds. We don’t have to go all-in to recognize the value in parts of a philosophy or tradition.]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional grain of salt:<\/strong> before we get too rah-rah “let’s take everything literally!”<\/em>, the above Bible verse begins with this lovely passage…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6<\/strong> All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God\u2019s name and our teaching may not be slandered.<\/p>\nBible Gateway<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Let’s take a different approach. The WLBOTT <\/strong>think tank have this theory about primate dominance behavior. It seems to be hard-wired into most primate (and other) species. In humans, it is ever present, and expresses itself in a myriad of ways. The theory is that “love of money” is a manifestation of primate dominance behavior, because money can be used in so many ways to act as an instrument of dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The WLBOTT <\/strong>Think Tank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Primate Dominance Behavior<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In the zoological field of ethology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. Different types of interactions can result in dominance depending on the species, including ritualized displays of aggression or direct physical violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In social living groups, members are likely to compete for access to limited resources and mating opportunities. Rather than fighting each time they meet, individuals of the same sex establish a relative rank, with higher-ranking individuals often gaining more access to resources and mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By \u00a9 Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=16266538<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) similarly have a dominance hierarchy dependent on the highest ranking female (queen) and her ability to suppress critically important reproductive hormones in male and female sub-dominants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Female dominance in mammals
<\/strong>Female-biased dominance occurs rarely in mammals. It occurs when all adult males exhibit submissive behavior to adult females in social settings. These social settings are usually related to feeding, grooming, and sleeping site priority. It is observed consistently in hyenas, lemurs and the bonobo. The ring-tailed lemur is observed to be the most prominent model of female dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bonobo group hug<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By LaggedOnUser – Bonobo group hugUploaded by Magnus Manske, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=21107742<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

[ed. note:<\/strong> the Wikipedia article is fascinating, but it gets into some serious PG-13 territory. Make sure you have a signed release by the WLBOTT Ministry of Virtue and Vice<\/strong> before clicking the link.]<\/span><\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Humans: Dual Strategies Theory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In evolutionary psychology and evolutionary anthropology, dual strategies theory states humans increase their status in social hierarchies using two major strategies known as dominance and prestige.<\/p>\n\n\n\n