What Are Origins of Human Competitive Spirit?
Aired September 17, 2000 – 9:18 a.m. ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. MILES O’BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Over thousands of years, humans have competed first to get food to survive, later for the sake of competition itself. The Olympics embody that human competitive spirit. Joining me now to talk about the human endurance and the ability and how they have changed over the years is Bernard Heinrich — or Bernd Heinrich, I apologize to you, sir — an author and professor of biology at the University of Vermont. He joins us from Burlington, Vermont. Nice to have you with us, sir. PROF. BERND HEINRICH, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT: Nice to be here, Miles. O’BRIEN: Is competition some sort of thing that is rooted in our Darwinian theory? HEINRICH: Well, yes, I think we competed with other animals to catch them, for example, in the long chase, and we had to plan ahead and think about pursuing animals over long distances because we weren’t that particul
