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Did anyone consider that our society IS artificial conditions? Not sure about you all, but western society feels much more akin to a zoo than the wilderness.

by korse 2y ago

jmye 2y ago
I don’t understand what you mean. That you can certainly opt in to artificial nonsense, as wholeheartedly and completely as you want, doesn’t mean society is artificial. It just means that’s the part you’ve decided to live your life in.
- tolerance 2y ago
  C’mon now, you know what he means. Or you’ve got a decent idea of what he might mean. People are beginning to consider that the most pervasive aspects of society—parts that you don’t have a choice whether you’re a part of it or confronted by it—are social constructs, and that humans are constrained in what they’re allowed to believe in and how to come to terms with those beliefs amongst one another.
TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
You're far more likely to be eaten alive by something in the wilderness than in a corporate office. If we've achieved nothing else, at least we've added a layer of political and economic indirection to our cannibalism.
ssnistfajen 2y ago
This is what I've been leaning towards after initially renouncing the experiment for its arbitrary nature. "Alpha" behaviour emerge in zero-sum/artificial scarcity situations, yet contemporary society is full of zero-sum situations and artificial scarcity due to market inefficiency and gatekeeping. It's not just Western society either. If anything, Western-aligned industrialized societies experience far less scarcity. So the behavioural pattern shouldn't be entirely dismissed as pseudoscience, but worthy of critical inspection and reference.
- indoordin0saur 2y ago
  > Alpha" behavior emerge in zero-sum/artificial scarcity situations Zero-sum, yes, but why only artificial scarcity? It seems like this would arise in a natural situation as well... Even if you lived on abundantly producing land that is not (yet) heavily populated there is still going to be mate competition.
eleveriven 2y ago
Soo maybe the "alpha" behaviors we see are a natural response to unnatural conditions and it's more about how we behave when we're stuck in systems

Did anyone consider that our society IS artificial conditions? Not sure about you all, but western society feels much more akin to a zoo than the wilderness.

by korse 2y ago

Did anyone consider that our society IS artificial conditions? Not sure about you all, but western society feels much more akin to a zoo than the wilderness.

jmye 2y ago

I don’t understand what you mean. That you can certainly opt in to artificial nonsense, as wholeheartedly and completely as you want, doesn’t mean society is artificial. It just means that’s the part you’ve decided to live your life in.

tolerance 2y ago
C’mon now, you know what he means. Or you’ve got a decent idea of what he might mean. People are beginning to consider that the most pervasive aspects of society—parts that you don’t have a choice whether you’re a part of it or confronted by it—are social constructs, and that humans are constrained in what they’re allowed to believe in and how to come to terms with those beliefs amongst one another.

TheOtherHobbes 2y ago

You're far more likely to be eaten alive by something in the wilderness than in a corporate office. If we've achieved nothing else, at least we've added a layer of political and economic indirection to our cannibalism.

ssnistfajen 2y ago

This is what I've been leaning towards after initially renouncing the experiment for its arbitrary nature. "Alpha" behaviour emerge in zero-sum/artificial scarcity situations, yet contemporary society is full of zero-sum situations and artificial scarcity due to market inefficiency and gatekeeping. It's not just Western society either. If anything, Western-aligned industrialized societies experience far less scarcity. So the behavioural pattern shouldn't be entirely dismissed as pseudoscience, but worthy of critical inspection and reference.

indoordin0saur 2y ago
> Alpha" behavior emerge in zero-sum/artificial scarcity situations Zero-sum, yes, but why only artificial scarcity? It seems like this would arise in a natural situation as well... Even if you lived on abundantly producing land that is not (yet) heavily populated there is still going to be mate competition.

eleveriven 2y ago

Soo maybe the "alpha" behaviors we see are a natural response to unnatural conditions and it's more about how we behave when we're stuck in systems