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I think that you are judging the situation too harshly. More than 99% of all species that have existed are extinct. Did something make them worthy of existence

by chasil 4y ago

I think that you are judging the situation too harshly. More than 99% of all species that have existed are extinct. Did something make them worthy of existence? More worthy than us? What conveys this worthiness? The sun will burn off the atmosphere somewhere between .5-1billion years from now. Humans understand the problem, and our progeny might be able to adjust orbital mechanics to add life to our earth. We are the only species that has ever existed here that is capable of contemplating or acting on this problem. Does that make us worthy? The answer to both questions is no. Worthiness comes from within you, and you do what you want with it. I cannot give you worthiness; you must find it within yourself.

Nifty3929 4y ago
I am sad that I can only offer a single upvote.
- chasil 4y ago
  Your thoughtfulness is deeply appreciated.
naikrovek 4y ago
what makes us unfit and unworthy as a species is our nature as humans, an example of which is the communally accepted extraction of value of one group of humans by another group of humans. some examples: - the British extraction of colonial resources (at the heavy expense of the colonized) of literally every single British colony, ever. (I'm primarily thinking of India and Africa, here.) How many millions died due to British imperialism solely because keeping those people alive was less profitable than letting them starve? The British are joined by the French and the Spanish, here, if I'm being semi-inclusive. - systemic racism. - war for oil (war for money). - class warfare, where the rich create policies and laws to keep themselves rich, and to make it more difficult for others to become rich. - caste systems. - the ultra-rich when contrasted against the ultra-poor. if humans were worth anything, extreme wealth inequality as seen today would never happen, ever. it simply would not be tolerated. - slavery. it would be one thing if humans simply didn't care about each other, but we take it several steps away from apathy deeply into malevolence: humanity will gladly devour entire races of other humans for land, or money, or power. I don't think animals do that, even on small scales. leaders of small ape communities sometimes do things like this against an individual or two, but it doesn't become part of the culture of entire swaths of that species as it does with us. you may not live in a country with a caste system, but I bet you know what it is. you may not live in a country ravaged by the British, but I bet you know what they did. these things are familiar to us because we are familiar with ourselves at that level. we accept these things as they are happening instead of challenging these systems and stopping them. our global culture knows what happens around the world, generally speaking, and our global culture does VERY little, if anything, to make any real changes to any of this. a species worthy of existence would go well out of its way to right these wrongs. human life has inherent value, and if you are reading this, and you think it does not, you are an example of why we do not deserve to succeed as a species. yes, MY worth is determined by me. and the worthiness of the collective species is determined by the collective species, and we are simply not worthy of leaving this planet or even surviving on this one. we care about power. we care about money because it grants power. we somehow deeply NEED to feel superior to others, so we create systems which grant the power we crave. we "eat our own tail" by doing this, and will ultimately destroy ourselves, because no one is willing to care about it once they have attained any position of power over others. no one wants to give up their power to benefit others, so they don't, and we continue to demonstrate ourselves as a species unworthy of note, even on our home planet.
- eternityforest 4y ago
  Technology has a tendency to remove the value from valuable things, like diamonds we can synthesize and slave labor a robot can do. We might not go out of our way not to exploit others, but we continually build new tech that makes exploiting others and using real resources seem like more trouble than it's worth. Most people are to some degree not happy with various atrocities people do, they're just not sure what they as an individual could do.
- helloworld11 4y ago
  With that much hatred in your opinion of our species, i'd say that you suffer from too much garbage thinking that has lost all perspective or balance in judging humanity. Yes, we can be a terrible species and in many ways continue to be awful to our own kind and other species, but we're also extremely social, capable of incredible acts of good and by our basic nature tend more towards cooperation, peaceful interaction and friendly exchange than towards violence and murder. We literally couldn't be where we are right now if the opposite was the case or if we were even half as bad as you describe. Also the obvious: Fashionable misanthropy is all fine and well if you enjoy pretending that obvious things aren't actually the case, but if you're taking it as seriously as you claim, nothing stops you from removing yourself from the human world around you if you hate it so much. Personally, i'd suggest therapy and some calming, professional external perspective.
- chasil 4y ago
  You are free to believe in Original Sin if you want. For myself, I am uncertain. You will likely claim that your misanthropy has nothing to do with this relic of Judaism, but the end effect is identical. You assert that mankind is damned, I suggest that he is not. This difference of opinion does not require me to hate you, nor you me.

by chasil 4y ago

Nifty3929 4y ago

I am sad that I can only offer a single upvote.

chasil 4y ago
Your thoughtfulness is deeply appreciated.

naikrovek 4y ago

what makes us unfit and unworthy as a species is our nature as humans, an example of which is the communally accepted extraction of value of one group of humans by another group of humans. some examples: - the British extraction of colonial resources (at the heavy expense of the colonized) of literally every single British colony, ever. (I'm primarily thinking of India and Africa, here.) How many millions died due to British imperialism solely because keeping those people alive was less profitable than letting them starve? The British are joined by the French and the Spanish, here, if I'm being semi-inclusive. - systemic racism. - war for oil (war for money). - class warfare, where the rich create policies and laws to keep themselves rich, and to make it more difficult for others to become rich. - caste systems. - the ultra-rich when contrasted against the ultra-poor. if humans were worth anything, extreme wealth inequality as seen today would never happen, ever. it simply would not be tolerated. - slavery. it would be one thing if humans simply didn't care about each other, but we take it several steps away from apathy deeply into malevolence: humanity will gladly devour entire races of other humans for land, or money, or power. I don't think animals do that, even on small scales. leaders of small ape communities sometimes do things like this against an individual or two, but it doesn't become part of the culture of entire swaths of that species as it does with us. you may not live in a country with a caste system, but I bet you know what it is. you may not live in a country ravaged by the British, but I bet you know what they did. these things are familiar to us because we are familiar with ourselves at that level. we accept these things as they are happening instead of challenging these systems and stopping them. our global culture knows what happens around the world, generally speaking, and our global culture does VERY little, if anything, to make any real changes to any of this. a species worthy of existence would go well out of its way to right these wrongs. human life has inherent value, and if you are reading this, and you think it does not, you are an example of why we do not deserve to succeed as a species. yes, MY worth is determined by me. and the worthiness of the collective species is determined by the collective species, and we are simply not worthy of leaving this planet or even surviving on this one. we care about power. we care about money because it grants power. we somehow deeply NEED to feel superior to others, so we create systems which grant the power we crave. we "eat our own tail" by doing this, and will ultimately destroy ourselves, because no one is willing to care about it once they have attained any position of power over others. no one wants to give up their power to benefit others, so they don't, and we continue to demonstrate ourselves as a species unworthy of note, even on our home planet.

eternityforest 4y ago
Technology has a tendency to remove the value from valuable things, like diamonds we can synthesize and slave labor a robot can do. We might not go out of our way not to exploit others, but we continually build new tech that makes exploiting others and using real resources seem like more trouble than it's worth. Most people are to some degree not happy with various atrocities people do, they're just not sure what they as an individual could do.
helloworld11 4y ago
With that much hatred in your opinion of our species, i'd say that you suffer from too much garbage thinking that has lost all perspective or balance in judging humanity. Yes, we can be a terrible species and in many ways continue to be awful to our own kind and other species, but we're also extremely social, capable of incredible acts of good and by our basic nature tend more towards cooperation, peaceful interaction and friendly exchange than towards violence and murder. We literally couldn't be where we are right now if the opposite was the case or if we were even half as bad as you describe. Also the obvious: Fashionable misanthropy is all fine and well if you enjoy pretending that obvious things aren't actually the case, but if you're taking it as seriously as you claim, nothing stops you from removing yourself from the human world around you if you hate it so much. Personally, i'd suggest therapy and some calming, professional external perspective.
chasil 4y ago
You are free to believe in Original Sin if you want. For myself, I am uncertain. You will likely claim that your misanthropy has nothing to do with this relic of Judaism, but the end effect is identical. You assert that mankind is damned, I suggest that he is not. This difference of opinion does not require me to hate you, nor you me.