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Do you consider yourself nasty and self-centered? Or do you think you're particularly nice, and "we...species" is referencing other people? Or just say "some p
by armchairhacker 1y ago
Do you consider yourself nasty and self-centered? Or do you think you're particularly nice, and "we...species" is referencing other people?
Or just say "some people are still nasty and self-centered, although others have at least have decency to care for others after their own needs are satisfied".
- HKH2 1y agoI don't agree with the OP, but the OP did say 'on a biological level'. I don't think the OP exists purely on a biological level.
- Root_Denied 1y agoIt's possible to believe that humans, as a species, in aggregate, are nasty and self-centered, all while maintaining that individuals can stray from that trendline. There's evidence for this in studies on mob mentality (not just in humans too, but any social animal group) that point to there being an inflection point where either the number of people or the circumstances (or a combination of both) pushes the group to act in predictable - and often nasty - ways. "a person is smart... people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it." - Tommy Lee Jones as "K" in MIB
- keiferski 1y agoThis is such a useful line, and I think about it all the time. It’s amazing that it came from a blockbuster alien movie.
- energy123 1y agoI consider my intrinsic nature to be that, yes, with contextual constraints like culture and sufficient food preventing that nature from acting in the world. And this is just an observation and a description, it's not a moral judgement. It's how it is.
- HKH2 1y agoWe are mammals though. Doesn't the mammalian brain make us more empathetic? Or do you think our biology has subverted it somehow?