I think you have this impression because of propaganda. Whoever gives up tribalism is a fool, and will lose to those who still have it. Look at Europe if you don't believe me.
There's in fact nothing wrong with tribalism so it's not something one "overcomes" with advancement. I'm not saying we should kill everyone else but we should absolutely compete with each other or at the very least see each other as distinct neighbors, because the second one "tribe" stops being tribal, it gets ripped to shreds by the others.
"United" has positive connotations but it's semantical sleight of hand (not from you, but the authors of the propaganda) to pretend that automatically translates to United Earth being some kind of ideal. "Division" is also now a bad word. "OMG you're so divisive." But these are just semantical games that have no bearing on reality. There is no principle that uniting things is always good and dividing things is always bad.
Any aliens who mastered space travel are very unlikely to have "overcome tribalism" when tribalism confers an overwhelmingly significant survival advantage and had they given it up, they'd have likely been eradicated long ago by a group that didn't give it up. If anyone unites their planet and goes out into space, it'll be the most tribal group of all.
Cows already eat insects and it's debated whether they do it on purpose or not, but either way if they were huge they'd absolutely harm us without even thinking about it. And you're thinking of domesticated cows; wild animals are significantly more aggressive.
It has nothing to do with propaganda. It's my own personal views which I have developed from years of studying politics, history and philosophy.
Having a tribal nature does hold us back. As a species, we really distrust each other and form our own groups (tribes if you will) that divide us. From divisions in nationality, to further divisions based on race, gender and religion. These divisions and tribes that we put ourselves into make us distrust each other and, as we can tell from history, this leads to competition and ultimately conflict.
War and nationalism is something I've struggled with for a while, especially nationalism. I've been at conflict with myself on the very idea of nationalism and being a British patriot. I am a Tory voter, so I should be very pro British, but over time I have started to wonder why that is. Why do I need to be so in love with the UK and be proud to be British?
Yes, the British have given the world a lot. There is a lot to be proud of, but is pride the right word? Why should I be proud to be British? I never chose to be British. It was the result of geographical fluke of being born to British parents. I had no control in being born in these lands. I'm happy to be British I guess as there are worse nations to be born into, but proud? Not any more as it doesn't make sense to be proud of something I had no control over.
Be a patriot and loving your home country is something you are taught, rather than something you are born with. We're taught to love our home nation. Taught to distrust other rival nations. Taught to love the spec of land that we were born into, but does it need to be this way? Surly we can overcome these tribal feelings in the future.
What is a nation anyway? A group of people who are united by race? United by culture? A land mass decided by an arbitrary line drawn on a map decided by very few powerful people? It's not something that has always been, thus it must be something we can move away from.
All nations and cultures come and go throughout history. No nation, culture or traditions last forever, so why try and keep hold of a concept that we know will never last and leads to war?
How much does the human race pump into defenses against each other? Is it almost 2 trillion dollars overall? That's a lot of money and resources to defend ourselves against each other. Imagine, for one moment, that we got rid of our distrust of each other and used even half of those resources we spend on defense and placed it on a unified scientific research and medical advancements. How far would that take us? Would it kick start a new scientific golden age where we combine all our wealth and resources?
It's worth thinking about and discussing. When I look at a future humanity that are traveling the stars, I certainly don't see that a humanity that is still divided by nationality. How could it be if earth is no longer our only home.
However, I'm well aware that this idea is an impossibility in 2020 or even the near future. Although, it is a fun thought experiment.
As for cows, well they are herbivores. Their diet is grass. They don't have the teeth or biological ability to live on a meat diet. Eating the odd bug is one thing, but I've never seen a cow eat a mouse or chicken.
