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Reading discussions on drone strikes makes you wonder what ever happened to pacifism. This whole idea that you can just go around other countries killing people

Reading discussions on drone strikes makes you wonder what ever happened to pacifism. This whole idea that you can just go around other countries killing people -- even if they intend on killing you, and even if you would be able to hit the right target 100% of the time-- it's just old. It's primitive. And that is not to blame the USA. At this point in history humanity, as a collective, has the maturity of an 11 year old. Maybe it's time to evolve a bit.

mistermann 11y ago
Couldn't agree more......just reading the front page of /r/all these days makes me want to drop out of society and move deep into the forest. I mean just take one example, the Flint water crisis - this is so unimaginably corrupt (is that even the right word) that it blows my mind. How do people knowingly do such things, how do we have no checks and balances in the system, how can we justify not sending several people to jail for a very long time?
rayiner 11y ago
I don't see why pacifism is "more evolved." Violence is one of the most fundamental interactions between organisms, right up there with eating and sexual reproduction. Is eating "primitive?" Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? Throughout history, prosperous and successful societies have been built on the back of military power (Egypt, Rome, Great Britain).
- Aeolos 11y ago
  We, as a human species, are supposed to evolve beyond our basic immediate needs. We created societies, because we need to eat, reproduce, survive, without reverting to base violence. We created medicine, technology to improve our quality of life and reduce the chances that biological evolutionary pressure destroys us. The black plague came close to killing 60% of the European population. It is now eradicated. What is the next step in our evolution as a species? Right now the biggest danger to the survival of humankind is... humankind itself. If we are to survive, not for a hundred years, but for a hundred thousand years into the future, we must learn how to cooperate without annihilating each other in the process.
  - rayiner 11y ago
    Does our technology and development "evolve [us] beyond our basic immediate needs" or do we use it to serve needs we've always had? We spend an enormous amount of our effort making both food and sex easier and more abundant (there's an app for that!). Violence isn't a vice that could be eliminated if only people had more virtue. It serves a practical function. It's the ultimate dispute resolution mechanism for people who either have too little in common or too much at stake to resolve their issues in any other way. Prosperity, abundance, and homogeneity makes it less necessary over time, but so long as conflict is possible between people, violence will be the final resort for resolving it.
- gambiting 11y ago
  "Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? " Actually yes, absolutely! Don't get me wrong, I love eating as well as cooking, but I have to agree that a stupid amount of time is spent on doing those things. If I could switch to a solution where I take a pill and it provides my body with all possible nutrition then I would in an instant.
  - ionised 11y ago
    Yeah, I had a flatmate not long ago that took 'enjoying cooking' to a lewvel I'd never witnessed before. He would spend three or four hours in the kitchen each night and sometimes all day on Saturdays and Sundays. It baffled me to no end to spend that much time just to sate hunger.
    - gambiting 11y ago
      Yeah I spend ~40 minutes making dinner and then another 40 minutes later in the evening making lunch for myself and my partner for the following day. Then there's cleaning up time as well. I like having home made food at work the next day but it's time I could be using for programming and other things really.
    - rhino369 11y ago
      >It baffled me to no end to spend that much time just to sate hunger. Clearly he wasn't trying to sate hunger. Cooking is as much of a hobby as hacking or being a "maker." Plus eating food is way more than just satiating hunger. I don't like cooking but I loving eating and drinking.
- ionised 11y ago
  > Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? Personally, yes. Taking time out to eat so I don't die takes me away from other things I was enjoying doing. I enjoy the taste of many foods, but not as much as I was enjoying the thing I was likely doing before it.
  - redblacktree 11y ago
    I am grateful for the processes of cooking and cleaning and other daily maintenance in my life. I'm reminded of a zen proverb: "Before enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water."

mistermann 11y ago

Couldn't agree more......just reading the front page of /r/all these days makes me want to drop out of society and move deep into the forest. I mean just take one example, the Flint water crisis - this is so unimaginably corrupt (is that even the right word) that it blows my mind. How do people knowingly do such things, how do we have no checks and balances in the system, how can we justify not sending several people to jail for a very long time?

rayiner 11y ago

I don't see why pacifism is "more evolved." Violence is one of the most fundamental interactions between organisms, right up there with eating and sexual reproduction. Is eating "primitive?" Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? Throughout history, prosperous and successful societies have been built on the back of military power (Egypt, Rome, Great Britain).

Aeolos 11y ago
We, as a human species, are supposed to evolve beyond our basic immediate needs. We created societies, because we need to eat, reproduce, survive, without reverting to base violence. We created medicine, technology to improve our quality of life and reduce the chances that biological evolutionary pressure destroys us. The black plague came close to killing 60% of the European population. It is now eradicated. What is the next step in our evolution as a species? Right now the biggest danger to the survival of humankind is... humankind itself. If we are to survive, not for a hundred years, but for a hundred thousand years into the future, we must learn how to cooperate without annihilating each other in the process.
- rayiner 11y ago
  Does our technology and development "evolve [us] beyond our basic immediate needs" or do we use it to serve needs we've always had? We spend an enormous amount of our effort making both food and sex easier and more abundant (there's an app for that!). Violence isn't a vice that could be eliminated if only people had more virtue. It serves a practical function. It's the ultimate dispute resolution mechanism for people who either have too little in common or too much at stake to resolve their issues in any other way. Prosperity, abundance, and homogeneity makes it less necessary over time, but so long as conflict is possible between people, violence will be the final resort for resolving it.
gambiting 11y ago
"Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? " Actually yes, absolutely! Don't get me wrong, I love eating as well as cooking, but I have to agree that a stupid amount of time is spent on doing those things. If I could switch to a solution where I take a pill and it provides my body with all possible nutrition then I would in an instant.
- ionised 11y ago
  Yeah, I had a flatmate not long ago that took 'enjoying cooking' to a lewvel I'd never witnessed before. He would spend three or four hours in the kitchen each night and sometimes all day on Saturdays and Sundays. It baffled me to no end to spend that much time just to sate hunger.
  - gambiting 11y ago
    Yeah I spend ~40 minutes making dinner and then another 40 minutes later in the evening making lunch for myself and my partner for the following day. Then there's cleaning up time as well. I like having home made food at work the next day but it's time I could be using for programming and other things really.
  - rhino369 11y ago
    >It baffled me to no end to spend that much time just to sate hunger. Clearly he wasn't trying to sate hunger. Cooking is as much of a hobby as hacking or being a "maker." Plus eating food is way more than just satiating hunger. I don't like cooking but I loving eating and drinking.
ionised 11y ago
> Are you looking forward to a future where humans "evolve" out of needing to eat? Personally, yes. Taking time out to eat so I don't die takes me away from other things I was enjoying doing. I enjoy the taste of many foods, but not as much as I was enjoying the thing I was likely doing before it.
- redblacktree 11y ago
  I am grateful for the processes of cooking and cleaning and other daily maintenance in my life. I'm reminded of a zen proverb: "Before enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, you chop wood and carry water."