What's the Goal Here, Humans?

Lif3r

Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome are never fully congruent and this is why "democracy" (if you can even call it that anymore) and capitalism encourage competition to hopefully facilitate innovation and abundance.

On paper we would think it works to alleviate the imbalance, and to a degree it does because even the poor of America are fat and rich, but eventually this system plateaus as well when people start to realize the competition also stifles innovation because it often hinders opportunity for the sake of victory, personal gain over another, or the financial upper hand at the cost of others.

We take advantage of each other for prosperity when in reality the prosperity could have been distributed to the bottom of the ladder (third world laborers etc) with more growth in mind for their personal existence.

We hog all of the resources. The entire chain works from the bottom up when it should work from both directions simultaneously.

We also steal from the earth and emit more chemicals than current biology is prepared to sustain, endangering all of us in order to win the competition.

We need to reinvent success to mean who can help biology sustain existence the most, not who can grab the most stuff.

Is this not a reasonable goal? Is this not why we invent government in the first place? To attempt to help sort it out. Is it really a matter of a small amount of apples spoiling the bunch? Is growth in a sustainable sense across the board just completely unattainable?

Lif3r

So if we are reaching for this goal that seems so far fetched, an equilibrium in growth and sustainability, but it is so distant it almost seems impossible, then what is it that keeps humans striving for this feat of survivability for one another?

Hope? Is that what's carrying the human race?

Lif3r

I don't feel like the majority of people are only in it for themselves, but perhaps people have already had this conversation with themselves, and choose to take the immoral ground strictly for survivability for themselves and their close relatives?
I guess we also dont fully comprehend how to distribute opportunity equally, and so this is another road block. Sheer ignorance.

We dont know how to get along, or why, and they counteract each other in a cycle.

javra

While I neither wish to bum out nor insult anyone, on the darkly humored side of things, here’s an answer to the question, “What Keeps Mankind Alive?”

↪Lif3r

I’m in agreement with the general sentiment you express. Still, sort of in line with this linked song, there are quite a bit of bestial acts which mankind engages in worldwide. In a sense, mankind is what it is due to its inhumanity, due to its cruelty, so that were all or most humans to miraculously become humane overnight, mankind as we know it would vanish and be replaced by something we can hardly imagine.

Cruelty is first bred in a person from some sort of basic want, be it of food, or warmth, or fairness. And once this cruelty comes to fruition in a person, it won’t be easily dissuaded.

There’s a lot of cruelty in the world, which plays a very significant role in breeding more basic wants in newcomers to it, which then turns into a vicious cycle. How to alleviate these basic wants in those that haven’t yet become cruel, and this in spite of the cruelty that already exists, is to me the pivotal question.

Otherwise, those that are cruel hold different goals than those who are not. And most often the goals of the former are shortsighted when it comes to humanity at large, to not mention the biosphere or the planet upon which we all depend.

ssu

Is this not why we invent government in the first place? — Lif3r

No. Government is basically just one part of specialization of work in our society and the institutions created with a government is a way for our species to prosper. Unlike other animals, we are not anymore all just "hunter-gatherers" like animals are.

We need to reinvent success to mean who can help biology sustain existence the most, not who can grab the most stuff. — Lif3r

Or perhaps just to get the message through that we won't have that prosperity that we now enjoy if we don't take care of environment we live in. It first sounds counter intuitive, but if people are more prosperous and wealthy, they will take care of the environment far better. If you are starving to death, your first objective is to get food and only then worry about the impact it makes on the environment.

Is growth in a sustainable sense across the board just completely unattainable? — Lif3r

Do you need rapid growth IF the population isn't growing or is decreasing? Isn't sustainability about having the ability to sustain a level?

Wealthy educated people seldom have huge families, the largest families are in the poorest countries where it's the "retirement policy" for people to have children who will look after them.

Outlander

↪Lif3r

Who can help biology sustain itself the most. So, scientific innovation?

Not everyone has the scientific gene in them so the speak.

unenlightened

Who can help biology sustain itself the most. So, scientific innovation? — Outlander

I think if you study it, life has sustained itself through many crises without the help of humans or scientific innovation. Over several billions of years.

We need to reinvent success to mean who can help biology sustain existence the most, not who can grab the most stuff. — Lif3r

To become extinct is the goal of every species. Nearly all achieve it sooner or later, but mankind with the aid of science our well trumpeted sapience, seem set to achieve it unusually quickly.

This by way of riposte to the anthropomorphising of 'Life'; by way of denial of survival as anything but a human fantasy.

So your question becomes, 'how can humans best realise their fantasy of survival?' And obviously, it is more likely to be approachable in alliance with a biosphere that has already existed for billions of years than by seeking to declare independence from it, let alone opposition to it. What is needed is a cure for the pernicious illness known as 'Western Civilisation'.

What's the Goal Here, Humans?

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