Utopia Talk - Politics - The real problem of humanity

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Utopia Talk / Politics / The real problem of humanity

Nimatzo
iChihuaha Fri Sep 25 06:56:39
It seems that all the things that have bothered me about our specie recently where captured in one sentence by the American biologist E. O. Wilson in 2009.

The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.

http://har...-o-wilson-intellectual-entente

Until we understand ourselves, concluded the Pulitzer-prize winning author of On Human Nature, “until we answer those huge questions of philosophy that the philosophers abandoned a couple of generations ago—Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?—rationally,” we’re on very thin ground.

Nimatzo
iChihuaha Fri Sep 25 07:07:58
were*

jergul
large member Fri Sep 25 08:33:03
The point is not to answer the questions. It is to continue asking them in a meaningful way.

hood
Member Fri Sep 25 09:00:51
The real problem of humanity:

The inability to count sentences.

Nimatzo
iChihuaha Fri Sep 25 09:10:10
There are ways in which these questions when answered make us better as a culture and specie, but also their unchanging nature keep us connected to our ancestors and provides a continuity. It may be that some questions do not have answers, but I think right now we have smashed our foundation for even agreeing what the questions are and which of them are meaningful to ask.

In this world of god like technology including, but not limited to, nuclear weapons, machine learning, deep fakes, filter bubbles, selfie sticks and social media, everyone is asking and answering these question in their own little alternate reality and according to their own narrative. Without shared sense making and shared platform for truth I feel we have a very slippery grip.

Nimatzo
iChihuaha Fri Sep 25 09:11:16
Hood, it was one sentence,

"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology."

But I decided to keep the rest as I found it relevant :)

Rugian
Member Fri Sep 25 09:47:04
Where are "we" going? As individuals, to a grave in 10-70 years, depending on how old we are.

In terms of the species, homo sapiens do not function as a collective hive mind, so there is no "we" to address there.

Nimatzo
iChihuaha Fri Sep 25 10:02:56
Culture and religion actually provide collective meaning and sense making in the forms of those questions. I wouldn't call it a hive mind, but there is certainly a "we". That we, certainly does and can exists across the specie. We just need to be part of the same culture.

Wrath of Orion
Member Fri Sep 25 10:03:49
There is when you're unable to address those questions for yourself and need the "shared truth" to define your answers to those questions.

jergul
large member Fri Sep 25 10:19:26
Ruggy
I am impressed that you can say the word "individual" with that mushroom shaped cock in your mouth.

Humans are far better equipped to understand collective abstracts than they are actual numbers. We cannot conceptually visualize to more than 12 without abstracting into groups.

Its a hard wired trait. We get "we" far better than we get "me".

Sam Adams
Member Fri Sep 25 10:25:49
"We cannot conceptually visualize to more than 12"

This explains so much about why jergul does what he does.

Sam Adams
Member Fri Sep 25 10:27:08
Anyway the real problem with humanity is we allow idiots to exist.

jergul
large member Fri Sep 25 10:27:58
Sammy
Its typically between 7 and 12. Never more than 12 (though there must be a few idiot savants that can beat that).

Try for yourself. Picture apples. As many as you can.

TJ
Member Fri Sep 25 10:41:53
Were is the past tense of are. Were we better off in the beginning than we're in the present?

A consensus will forever remain deficient. There is no acceptable answer against Individual environment.

jergul
large member Fri Sep 25 11:12:21
Philosophically, it is just a question of if we are moving towards or away from a golden age in incremental steps?

The old answer is away from. Away from the garden of Eden or classical rome.

Sam Adams
Member Fri Sep 25 11:49:28
"I cant count past twelve" is an interesting admission jergul

Rugian
Member Fri Sep 25 11:57:55
Seb

The Democrats have literally taken to calling themselves "the resistance," have promised to destroy the destruction of the judiciary and to restructure the government in order to favor themselves, have tolerated and even encouraged anti-Trump street violence and anarchy, and have made it so that merely being an open conservative in this country can potentially result in your social ostracism.

Dont talk to me about who is the danger to this country. Trump says a lot of stupid and uninformed shit, but that's all it is, talk. Democrats on the other hand are fully aware of what they're proposing.

jergul
large member Fri Sep 25 19:48:39
Sammy
In those terms, I am saying I doubt you can count past 8.

Its part and parcel of pattern recognition. We group things fast. Hardwired and key to our survival as a species in the past.

kargen
Member Fri Sep 25 20:28:52
How we group things depends on several things. Gestalt law explains how we group and how we recognize patterns. Also explains the path our eyes take in perceiving what is around us. Being able to quickly group things doesn't mean we are unable to perceive individual things beyond twelve.
Our basic instinct is to put things in recognizable patterns and groups because it does let us process quicker. If you have 13 completely different items on a table with no discernable pattern in how they are positioned we can and will see thirteen items. If six are blue and seven are green we will get that there are 13 items quicker though because we see the two groups.

jergul
large member Sat Sep 26 02:25:49
13 would be many things until grouped.

swordtail
Anarchist Prime Sat Sep 26 07:55:29
“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

jergul
large member Sat Sep 26 12:24:51
Henlein. I have been kindling the crap out of his stuff recently. Nice ST!

McKobb
Member Sun Sep 27 17:00:55
"God forbid that I should ever be a good influence on anybody"

Cherub Cow
Member Tue Sep 29 00:44:10
"“those huge questions of philosophy that the philosophers abandoned a couple of generations ago—Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?—rationally,”"

Robert Krulwich clearly not keeping up on philosophy if he thinks that those questions were "abandoned a couple of generations ago".

show deleted posts

Nimatzo iChihuaha	Fri Sep 25 06:56:39 It seems that all the things that have bothered me about our specie recently where captured in one sentence by the American biologist E. O. Wilson in 2009. The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall. http://har...-o-wilson-intellectual-entente Until we understand ourselves, concluded the Pulitzer-prize winning author of On Human Nature, “until we answer those huge questions of philosophy that the philosophers abandoned a couple of generations ago—Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?—rationally,” we’re on very thin ground.
Nimatzo iChihuaha	Fri Sep 25 07:07:58 were*
jergul large member	Fri Sep 25 08:33:03 The point is not to answer the questions. It is to continue asking them in a meaningful way.
hood Member	Fri Sep 25 09:00:51 The real problem of humanity: The inability to count sentences.
Nimatzo iChihuaha	Fri Sep 25 09:10:10 There are ways in which these questions when answered make us better as a culture and specie, but also their unchanging nature keep us connected to our ancestors and provides a continuity. It may be that some questions do not have answers, but I think right now we have smashed our foundation for even agreeing what the questions are and which of them are meaningful to ask. In this world of god like technology including, but not limited to, nuclear weapons, machine learning, deep fakes, filter bubbles, selfie sticks and social media, everyone is asking and answering these question in their own little alternate reality and according to their own narrative. Without shared sense making and shared platform for truth I feel we have a very slippery grip.
Nimatzo iChihuaha	Fri Sep 25 09:11:16 Hood, it was one sentence, "The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology." But I decided to keep the rest as I found it relevant :)
Rugian Member	Fri Sep 25 09:47:04 Where are "we" going? As individuals, to a grave in 10-70 years, depending on how old we are. In terms of the species, homo sapiens do not function as a collective hive mind, so there is no "we" to address there.
Nimatzo iChihuaha	Fri Sep 25 10:02:56 Culture and religion actually provide collective meaning and sense making in the forms of those questions. I wouldn't call it a hive mind, but there is certainly a "we". That we, certainly does and can exists across the specie. We just need to be part of the same culture.
Wrath of Orion Member	Fri Sep 25 10:03:49 There is when you're unable to address those questions for yourself and need the "shared truth" to define your answers to those questions.
jergul large member	Fri Sep 25 10:19:26 Ruggy I am impressed that you can say the word "individual" with that mushroom shaped cock in your mouth. Humans are far better equipped to understand collective abstracts than they are actual numbers. We cannot conceptually visualize to more than 12 without abstracting into groups. Its a hard wired trait. We get "we" far better than we get "me".
Sam Adams Member	Fri Sep 25 10:25:49 "We cannot conceptually visualize to more than 12" This explains so much about why jergul does what he does.
Sam Adams Member	Fri Sep 25 10:27:08 Anyway the real problem with humanity is we allow idiots to exist.
jergul large member	Fri Sep 25 10:27:58 Sammy Its typically between 7 and 12. Never more than 12 (though there must be a few idiot savants that can beat that). Try for yourself. Picture apples. As many as you can.
TJ Member	Fri Sep 25 10:41:53 Were is the past tense of are. Were we better off in the beginning than we're in the present? A consensus will forever remain deficient. There is no acceptable answer against Individual environment.
jergul large member	Fri Sep 25 11:12:21 Philosophically, it is just a question of if we are moving towards or away from a golden age in incremental steps? The old answer is away from. Away from the garden of Eden or classical rome.
Sam Adams Member	Fri Sep 25 11:49:28 "I cant count past twelve" is an interesting admission jergul
Rugian Member	Fri Sep 25 11:57:55 Seb The Democrats have literally taken to calling themselves "the resistance," have promised to destroy the destruction of the judiciary and to restructure the government in order to favor themselves, have tolerated and even encouraged anti-Trump street violence and anarchy, and have made it so that merely being an open conservative in this country can potentially result in your social ostracism. Dont talk to me about who is the danger to this country. Trump says a lot of stupid and uninformed shit, but that's all it is, talk. Democrats on the other hand are fully aware of what they're proposing.
jergul large member	Fri Sep 25 19:48:39 Sammy In those terms, I am saying I doubt you can count past 8. Its part and parcel of pattern recognition. We group things fast. Hardwired and key to our survival as a species in the past.
kargen Member	Fri Sep 25 20:28:52 How we group things depends on several things. Gestalt law explains how we group and how we recognize patterns. Also explains the path our eyes take in perceiving what is around us. Being able to quickly group things doesn't mean we are unable to perceive individual things beyond twelve. Our basic instinct is to put things in recognizable patterns and groups because it does let us process quicker. If you have 13 completely different items on a table with no discernable pattern in how they are positioned we can and will see thirteen items. If six are blue and seven are green we will get that there are 13 items quicker though because we see the two groups.
jergul large member	Sat Sep 26 02:25:49 13 would be many things until grouped.
swordtail Anarchist Prime	Sat Sep 26 07:55:29 “Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
jergul large member	Sat Sep 26 12:24:51 Henlein. I have been kindling the crap out of his stuff recently. Nice ST!
McKobb Member	Sun Sep 27 17:00:55 "God forbid that I should ever be a good influence on anybody"
Cherub Cow Member	Tue Sep 29 00:44:10 "“those huge questions of philosophy that the philosophers abandoned a couple of generations ago—Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?—rationally,”" Robert Krulwich clearly not keeping up on philosophy if he thinks that those questions were "abandoned a couple of generations ago".
	show deleted posts

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