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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 87,003
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8969391 - 09/22/08 06:28 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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What precipitating event changed your outlook on life?
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
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awesomebastard
Lost



Registered: 12/16/07
Posts: 4,891
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: Asante]
#8969409 - 09/22/08 06:32 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Nothing major just alot and alot of thinking.
I am very analytical by nature
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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arbalest
wut kent?



Registered: 09/04/04
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: Asante]
#8969431 - 09/22/08 06:38 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Wiccan_Seeker said: What precipitating event changed your outlook on life?
I was thinking exactly the same thing!
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Boots
Disenchanted


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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8969443 - 09/22/08 06:42 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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I don't see why we, as humans, are so hard on ourselves. The domination of other species is a good thing so long as it benefits us (or more specifically, me). My point is, do you think the dinosaurs were worried about all the animals they were killing off?
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arbalest
wut kent?



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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: Boots]
#8969541 - 09/22/08 07:04 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah but the dinosaurs could live sustainably with one another. We cant, but we possibly could if we did things responsibly, and used sustainable resources.
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5HTSynaptrip
Dopamine Enthusiast




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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: arbalest]
#8969714 - 09/22/08 07:38 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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But we're an infantile species. Seriously, on the grand scheme of things we are nothing but milliseconds on the hour clock of our planet's life. Who is to say things are progressing the way they should or shouldn't? I always flirt with the idea that what we are and how we behave is nothing more than the base behaviors of the atoms that make us up. Perhaps the atoms are willing their way into some supreme form on many planets in many galaxies. Biomechanical life forms may end up replacing us one day, and why not? They may have better fitness, an almost limitless life span and the ability to compile technology thousands of times faster than any primitive human brain. Imagine loading a math program in your child's mind that took him from arithmetic to applied calculus and quantum mechanics in a matter of minutes.
Incredible.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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DimensionX
King of Birds


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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8969840 - 09/22/08 07:58 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
awesomebastard said: If you believe science. All life only serves to benefit themselves. It's just how the world works. Natural selection dude.
I don't think its that simple. Consider cross species altruism. This is a trait which can be seen in humans, where we try and help other species. If there is a hurt animal, many humans will try and help it. Humans are now trying to save entire species from extinction. We may be the major cause as to why they are threatened, but if all life was only in existence to benefit itself, their would not be large groups of humans passionately working to save them. And humans would not feel empathy towards other species or consider it a tragedy when they are extinct. Species existing purely to benefit themselves is anti survival in a world where everything is so interdependent.
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awesomebastard
Lost



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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: DimensionX]
#8969972 - 09/22/08 08:28 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Saving endangered species sure takes away that guilt.
The lack of guilt sure makes people feel better inside themselves doesn't it?
Seems like a social paradox to me instead of a biological attribute.
Sort of like how Christians feel the need to save your soul because if they do Jesus will be happy they wont feel guilt and will in turn go to heaven.
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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Jack yo Self foo
The Artful Dodger



Registered: 06/28/08
Posts: 3,096
Loc: Where the red fern grows....
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8969993 - 09/22/08 08:33 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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the Christians endanger the very souls they try to save??
so my theory is right...that the human race is inherently evil...
-------------------- You learn something new everyday, so be sure you learn something from it.
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DimensionX
King of Birds


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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8969999 - 09/22/08 08:34 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
awesomebastard said: Saving endangered species sure takes away that guilt.
The lack of guilt sure makes people feel better inside themselves doesn't it?
Seems like a social paradox to me instead of a biological attribute.
Sort of like how Christians feel the need to save your soul because if they do Jesus will be happy they wont feel guilt and will in turn go to heaven.
Why would people feel guilty if they didn't think what was happening was bad? I think this is just another indication of humans valuing other forms of life.
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awesomebastard
Lost



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Posts: 4,891
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: DimensionX]
#8970030 - 09/22/08 08:42 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Do "good" and "evil" exist or are these ideas the result of social conditioning designed to control us more efficiently.
Guilt is a direct result of this social conditioning. We are taught from childhood that killing is wrong. We have animal friends such as dogs and cats and are told that violence agianst them is wrong. Some make the connection between right wrong and the possible extinction of a species and feel guilt. Guilt is a negative feeling and the only way to fix it is to do something "good" to make up for it.
This IMO is the reason we have things like green peace the peace corps etc.
Not because something is wrong but becuase we were indirectly told that it is.
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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awesomebastard
Lost



Registered: 12/16/07
Posts: 4,891
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Quote:
jacksonian said: the Christians endanger the very souls they try to save??
so my theory is right...that the human race is inherently evil...
You seem to have severely misunderstood what I was saying.
I dont even see how you made that connection at all.
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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Jack yo Self foo
The Artful Dodger



Registered: 06/28/08
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8970059 - 09/22/08 08:48 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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me either...i'm bored as helll...
-------------------- You learn something new everyday, so be sure you learn something from it.
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awesomebastard
Lost



Registered: 12/16/07
Posts: 4,891
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Fatty bowls.
Smoke up son.
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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DimensionX
King of Birds


Registered: 09/26/07
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8970105 - 09/22/08 08:59 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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I understand your point of view and i think it is valid to some extent. But i think it concentrates entirely on the emotion of guilt and ignores the existence of other emotions such as empathy. I believe empathy is a major motivator for humans caring for other people and animals.
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awesomebastard
Lost



Registered: 12/16/07
Posts: 4,891
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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: DimensionX]
#8970113 - 09/22/08 09:00 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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To each his own.
I just attribute empathy to guilt indirectly.
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"Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics." ~ C.J. Keyser Mr. Cypher said: "I just tell the girls how sexy I am and their panties melt."
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circularvortex
Bass Head



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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: Shroomism]
#8970170 - 09/22/08 09:11 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomism said: That's bullshit though. Nature serves to perpetuate itself infinitely. Everything effects everything else. We are destroying the planet that sustains our very existence. If that's natural selection, we are slowly killing our own damn species off, and making the world unfit for everything else to live in. Our civilization is completely incapable of sustaining itself for a long period of time at the rate we are going. Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me. If that's science, it's going to be the destruction of mankind if we don't fix our shit.
Quote:
Shroomism said: Perhaps I wasn't specific enough. No, we aren't destroying the planet.. we are destroying the ecosystem and natural habitat that sustains the existence of every living creature on the planet. Even with nuclear holocaust, Earth would survive.. but probably not very many of us would. Besides that, we are polluting our air, our water sources, our food, we are raping the planet's natural resources. We cannot sustain civilization like this for long. But you seem to not grasp the concept of everything effects everything. If all insects, etc were gone, humans would be too. There is a chain of life on this planet, and without most of the plants, insects, animals, etc.. we would not survive.
And nature is about survival and continuity.
The problem is not that we are destroying nature. The problem is that we are destroying a nature that is capable of sustaining US. On a geological time scale we're a hiccup. On an ecological time scale we're some minor indigestion. We could fuck up the water, fuck up the air, and pollute the soil to a level that is incapable of sustaining human life and kill ourselves off, but life would persist and new ecosystems would form. We can melt the ice caps and create a planet totally underwater and kill ourselves off. Life would persist, and new ecosystems would form.
I'm a student of natural resource management, have been for about 3 years now. A huge misconception lots of people have is that we're killing the earth. We're not killing the earth, we're changing it to something that cannot support human life (or at least not the numbers that we have, and will have). Species can be wiped out and go extinct, but extinction is part of the natural process! Natural selection and geographic isolation will create new ones in their place. Our goals in managing natural resources should not be to maintain "the balance of nature" because nature has no balance! It is a constantly shifting web interaction! Our goals should be to channel the interactions to be favorable for us. Quite often this means maintaining the situation from which we arose. Maintaining that state is NOT natural and should not be thought of as such.
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, federal, or fashion police laws. All posts are works of fiction. For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder. Under closer inspection I realised it was a funky ball of tits from outer space.
 
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Boots
Disenchanted


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Re: been thinking about the human race... [Re: awesomebastard]
#8975920 - 09/23/08 10:17 PM (15 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
awesomebastard said: Saving endangered species sure takes away that guilt.
The lack of guilt sure makes people feel better inside themselves doesn't it?
Seems like a social paradox to me instead of a biological attribute.
Sort of like how Christians feel the need to save your soul because if they do Jesus will be happy they wont feel guilt and will in turn go to heaven.
Guilt is not to be pitied. It is a self-inflicted wound.
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