The tragedy of humanity is that we know we can be better than non-sapient animals responding out of emotional, knee-jerk survival instinct that is necessary in the wild but destructive in civilization. We have sparks, inklings, we can see the higher path, the path where our sapience has created the ability/technology to feed, clothe, shelter, educate, and even facilitate self-actualization for EVERYONE.
It’s right there, some even do it on a small scale, very rarely humanity makes a step in that direction before taking a step back.
But most of the time, that inkling is extinguished. Our higher, sapient, empathetic mind still not quite evolved enough to overcome our lower brain that sees everyone else as competition and a threat that can only be defeated, ensuring individual survival, by hoarding moooooaaaar than them, and keeping them away.
Juuuuuuust barely smart enough to split the atom with concerted team effort, but still so dominated by our base, animalistic impulses that we did it explicitly to first and foremost make big boomie boom rival monkey tribe.
It’s not so much human nature as it is capitalism. The small scale mutual aid gets scaled back because the group runs out of money, the helpfulness shrugged off because individuals barely have enough to care for themselves, and austerity makes politicians as well as political citizens more concerned about cost than helping people.
You’re both right, but capitalism is an expression of human nature. That was the original argument for it, in fact; the “invisible hand” referred to self-interest, an aspect of human nature.
It is at once both the unique strength and tragic weakness of the economic system and humanity alike.
The tragedy of humanity is that we know we can be better than non-sapient animals responding out of emotional, knee-jerk survival instinct that is necessary in the wild but destructive in civilization. We have sparks, inklings, we can see the higher path, the path where our sapience has created the ability/technology to feed, clothe, shelter, educate, and even facilitate self-actualization for EVERYONE.
It’s right there, some even do it on a small scale, very rarely humanity makes a step in that direction before taking a step back.
But most of the time, that inkling is extinguished. Our higher, sapient, empathetic mind still not quite evolved enough to overcome our lower brain that sees everyone else as competition and a threat that can only be defeated, ensuring individual survival, by hoarding moooooaaaar than them, and keeping them away.
Juuuuuuust barely smart enough to split the atom with concerted team effort, but still so dominated by our base, animalistic impulses that we did it explicitly to first and foremost make big boomie boom rival monkey tribe.
It’s not so much human nature as it is capitalism. The small scale mutual aid gets scaled back because the group runs out of money, the helpfulness shrugged off because individuals barely have enough to care for themselves, and austerity makes politicians as well as political citizens more concerned about cost than helping people.
You’re both right, but capitalism is an expression of human nature. That was the original argument for it, in fact; the “invisible hand” referred to self-interest, an aspect of human nature.
It is at once both the unique strength and tragic weakness of the economic system and humanity alike.