4 ms·

I've been watching Black Mirror recently and have reflected on this - human exceptionalism. We'd like to think of ourselves as gods, or almost-gods, and with te

I've been watching Black Mirror recently and have reflected on this - human exceptionalism. We'd like to think of ourselves as gods, or almost-gods, and with technology we are surely achieving some god powers. But we always seem to fall back to misery just when we thought we've conquered nature - human nature, animal nature. The greatest lesson we'll ever learn is our own insignificance in this world. Only then will we stop fighting the world, and indeed each other. Only then will we stop destroying, and accept our true place and destiny among all living things.

metafunctor 9y ago
Living an insignificant life and living in misery are not the same thing.
- taneq 9y ago
  Almost the opposite; one of the things that most bedevils successful humans is the drive to make their lives significant.
- Fnoord 9y ago
  Yup. I just saw Happy People: A Year in the Taiga [1] about heart of Siberia where hunters live a solitary life of hard labor and independence most of the year. They have very little impact on the world, but I think most people are generally ignorant of things like their Co2 footprint. Significant or insignificant goes many ways.. [1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/
Robotbeat 9y ago
Maybe the "Great Filter" is the acceptance of insignificance by technologically intelligent lifeforms: Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people. - George Bernard Shaw.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
  These two approaches are not mutually exclusive. We can simultaneously accept the world as it is yet work to make it what we wish it were.
foxhop 9y ago
I really like Black Mirror. Not to distract from your point, but I feel like the writers need to broaden their dystopian topics to other forms of tech. They also miss the "punch line" on many of their episodes, they line things up so perfectly and then don't commit. It's almost a let down not to see things crumble completely. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_Up_and_Dance_(Black_Mirror) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_Up_and_Dance_(Black_Mirro... The ending should have been streamed lived to the masses, like a virtual "dog fight". That would pull the entire world into the story and force the intelligent viewer to think about how even as a bystander we are all part of the problem.

metafunctor 9y ago

Living an insignificant life and living in misery are not the same thing.

taneq 9y ago
Almost the opposite; one of the things that most bedevils successful humans is the drive to make their lives significant.
Fnoord 9y ago
Yup. I just saw Happy People: A Year in the Taiga [1] about heart of Siberia where hunters live a solitary life of hard labor and independence most of the year. They have very little impact on the world, but I think most people are generally ignorant of things like their Co2 footprint. Significant or insignificant goes many ways.. [1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/

Robotbeat 9y ago

Maybe the "Great Filter" is the acceptance of insignificance by technologically intelligent lifeforms: Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people. - George Bernard Shaw.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
These two approaches are not mutually exclusive. We can simultaneously accept the world as it is yet work to make it what we wish it were.

foxhop 9y ago

I really like Black Mirror. Not to distract from your point, but I feel like the writers need to broaden their dystopian topics to other forms of tech. They also miss the "punch line" on many of their episodes, they line things up so perfectly and then don't commit. It's almost a let down not to see things crumble completely. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_Up_and_Dance_(Black_Mirror) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_Up_and_Dance_(Black_Mirro... The ending should have been streamed lived to the masses, like a virtual "dog fight". That would pull the entire world into the story and force the intelligent viewer to think about how even as a bystander we are all part of the problem.