You need to take a longer-term perspective. Look at what our species has accomplished in a mere twelve millennia. We started out as a pack-social species of nomadic hunter-gatherers, who regarded all other packs as hated and feared competitors for scarce resources. Reexamination of ancient remains using modern instruments has disclosed the fact that more than 50% of Paleolithic adults died as a result of violence. More people were killed by other people than by all other causes combined!
Since the invention of the technology of agriculture we no longer need to fight over food--as a species anyway, of course there are still a few benighted communities. Violence has been steadily abating. Genghis Khan was the high water mark, killing ten percent of the people his armies could reach with the transportation technology of his era. Compared to the Stone Age, it's fair to rephrase that as only ten percent! The high water mark since then was WWII, whose military leaders succeeded in killing only three percent of the people they could reach--which in the 1940s was everybody--60 million people. Since then there have only been one or two conflicts with body counts over a mere one million, and today we weep over a battle that kills one hundred people--that would have been a slow news day in 1944.
Put that way, I do think that my misanthropy is [thankfully] on shakier ground that I thought. It is also quite indicative of our restraint that this trend exists. I mean, Genghis probably killed not only the largest percentage of contacted people, he also most likely killed as many as the technology of the time allowed. Considering that we can, if we want, extinguish all life on earth, its really
a good thing that we consider a 100 deaths as a massive tragedy.
Speaking of benign worldviews, I now understand how my anglophilia developed. Like most people, I have had many a role model since my childhood. As far as I can remember, they were, from my childhood to present: Batman -> Sherlock Holmes -> Alistair Maclean's Hero characters -> Asimov and Clarke's protagonists -> The Doctor. I didnt realise I considered the doctor as my role model but it makes sense. I was introduced to the doctor just after I lost my faith. To see an advanced, benign and awesome character with a furturistic perspective on current affairs who nevertheless is an optimistic, energetic, curious person who revels in the magnificence of the universe and stars in beautiful, well written, happy stories which often have quite a few good messages to tell could not be beaten by anything else [except perhaps Sagan's or Attenbrough's Documentaries] as a useful tool to combat the depression and nihilism that commonly accompany the loss of faith. From there started my obsession with the English accent [for reasons I explained on another thread] and in the process of watching more british telly shows to reference the accent, I became an anglophile.
Your optimism is reasonable. As we evolved out of the Stone Age, we have consistently used our uniquely enormous forebrains to
override the instincts passed down in our DNA. The obvious example is BASE jumping: no other non-flying mammal would step off a cliff. But more importantly, we're overriding our pack-social instinct and becoming steadily more
herd-social. In our cities we live in harmony and cooperation with complete strangers. But better than that, we now consider ourselves as kin to people on the other side of the planet who are nothing more than anonymous abstractions. The internet and cellular technology have even improved on that: we can send those people e-mails anytime we want, or even talk to them if we care to! One graphic artist in Israel has started a movement which so far has enlisted thousands of people in Israel and Iran, promising that they do not want to bomb each other, regardless of the propaganda their shit-for-brains theocratic governments keep spewing out.
Yes, there are still forces that conspire to reinforce our Stone Age instincts and divide the world into Us and Them. But the forces pulling us closer together become stronger with every new technology: agriculture-->city-building-->wheeled vehicles with domesticated animals to pull them-->writing-->sailing ships-->railroads-->electronic communication-->digital communication.
SciForums is a place of science, it says so in our name. So let's celebrate the achievements of science, engineering and technology in overcoming our Inner Caveman.
Hear Hear! Isnt the story of our civilisation [and of science] a beautiful tale? I am tempted to think that if advanced ETs ever discovered us, they wouldnt make contact, they would just make our planet a secret reality show for their entertainment - like a planetary version of Big Brother [the show, not the other thing - I hope!] Btw, I am starting to see the beauty in everthing around me. This is probably the result of reading those books I mentioned as well as the fact that I am jamming out to the highlights of the dubstep concerts in Londonderry on BBC radio One's internet radio as I write this.
“Music touches us emotionally, where words alone can't.” ― Johnny Depp
“Music is the universal language of mankind.”― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Where words fail, music speaks.”― Hans Christian Andersen
Why though? From an evolutionary perspective, what purpose does this serve?
Actually the first cities in Mesopotamia were built 11KYA, a mere one thousand years after the Agricultural Revolution both permitted and required our ancestors to stop chasing their food across the landscape and settle down in permanent villages. The technology of city-building spread rather quickly to Egypt, India and China. The folks on this side of the planet had to invent it for themselves so the Olmecs didn't figure it out until around 5KYA--hampered by the need to build their cities with no draft animals! We've only recently managed to domesticate the bison, and AFAIK nobody has even bothered trying with the moose and the mountain goat. Oddly enough we have reindeer on this continent (we call them "caribou") but our Arctic people didn't try to domesticate them. Pigs domesticate rather easily but I don't think anyone anywhere has tried hitching one to a cart.
By cities, do you mean proper cities with streets and a city plan and some water supply/waste disposal system, etc? Of course, all those technologies would probably develop at different times, but maybe their beginnings could be detected there? I was quite fascinated by this when I read Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.
You are wise beyond your years.
:shy: Thank you very much, though I cant claim much credit for that. Ever since I was a child, my mum often used to discuss with me at length many social, philosophical and theological topics and inculcated in me a deep appreciation of thought and a insatiable curiosity for knowledge. That, more than anything else, made me who I am. Besides, I have a lot of time of spare time on my hand and ever since I lost my faith, I have been reading, listening [to lectures] and watching [documentaries] intensively on most topics scientific, social, psychological, cultural and philosophical since I faced the daunting task of recreating my worldview having disposed of my religious one. I guess its that larger worldview I have managed to have that gives that impression. Thank you again. A bit of appreciation can go a long way, especially when one is [quickly becoming 'was'] down, not just emotionally, but also philosophically.
Don't get me started on religion. It's a relic of the Stone Age that we just haven't been able to shake off. Belief in the supernatural is what Jung calls an archetype, an instinct programmed into the DNA in our synapses by evolution. Perhaps it was a survival trait in an ancient era whose dangers we can't imagine, or it might just be an unfortunate mutation passed down through one of our species's genetic bottlenecks. Fortunately some of us have mutated away from it: there has been no religion in my family for three generations.
Things are changing! Now more than ever, the non religious are a proper force in the world. There are 1.1 billion of us now!
Sounds like a lengthy way of saying, "People aren't perfect." In aggregate each generation leaves the world slightly better than they found it, and that's what matters. Of course that isn't a monotonic phenomenon and there have been some astounding backslides, but averaged over 12,000 years we're doing very nicely, thank you. Let us have our weaknesses, especially if we enjoy them. Only a few hundred generations separate us from our Paleolithic ancestors, and that simply isn't enough time for our biology to evolve to fit this new reality we've built for ourselves. There is still an Inner Caveman inside each of us. We placate him with beer and TV and motorcycles and football and pizza and a domesticated wolf at his feet who thinks he's God, and most of the time that works. But every now and then he goes Paleolithic on us and does something that breaks the rules of civilization. Most of the time no serious harm is done and he sneaks back into his Barcalounger hoping nobody noticed. It's only when an entire community is exorted into going Paleolithic at the same time, that we have wars. And as many of us have noted, that exortation comes from our religious leaders as often as not. Sure, they blame the civil leaders. But it's a little facile to blame only Hitler for the Holocaust, which was nothing more than the culmination of two millennia of violent antisemitism that was one of the defining characterstics of European Christendom, and which was happily endorsed, or at least studiously ignored, by the vast majority of the European Christian population. The proof of this is that when the war was over and the Europeans were wallowing in contrition, they offered to do anything they could to make it up to their Jewish refugees except let them come back and live among them again. The Brits actually pulled off the coup of getting rid of them permanently by sending them to Palestine and renaming it "Israel"!
Well said and quite informative. You never cease to amaze me by how much you know - and how succinctly you can put it.
Seeing that written by such a young person almost makes me weep. Thank you so much!
Um, thank you? I am sorry if this wasnt the response you expected. I dont understand what makes you feel this way about that statement? I mean, it is a train of though I have, but I have actually done little. I have just given some to a few charities, mainly to cancer research. On a related topic:
I have also noticed that I have become much more charitable since losing my faith, no doubt because of my humanism.
We all go through these cycles. Don't worry about it. All you're telling us is that you're a fairly normal human, which is a good thing. You're still young enough that your endocrine system is A) not quite in balance and B) powerful enough to override the rational part of your brain from time to time. Go jump up and down at a rock concert; play a sport; camp out amid some beautiful scenery; play with your dog. (If you don't have a dog, go out right now and get one. During the past 12,000 years they've gone through more than ten thousand generations, so their instincts have evolved a lot faster and further than ours. They are much better adapted to civilization than we are, so they have a lot to teach us. Deep down inside, each of us is still his "ancestral wolf.")
Ah, the perfect timing of coincidence. As I said above, I am jamming out right now. I have also ramped up my healthcare and food and am starting to "live a little". Things are gelling together. Hopefully this will be behind me in a few weeks and then will begin the harder task of understanding what happened and why so that it can be handled better in the future or even prevented and also because I am by nature quite a jolly person so understand what happened here might help me understand myself better. Speaking of which, I have been doing the surveys here:
http://www.yourmorals.org/explore.php to understand my moral and value layout and quite a few unexpected anomalies have revealed themselves as a result - understanding and addressing them will surely help reduce some of the psychological dissonance.
There is such a thing as "sub-clinical depression." On the one hand, this too shall pass, so you simply have to survive it without causing any serious problems for yourself or others. On the other hand, it would be worth talking to a professional, to learn from the experiences of the sixty bazillion teenagers who came before you and went through exactly the same thing.
Ok, I will look into it. I would rather not see a professional if I can help it though, because as bad as this is, it is still a good opportunity to understand myself, learn to organise mental tasks and start to assume responsibility for myself. Still, if need be, I will do it.
Bingo! A new force from the world of adulthood is making its way into your life. This is absolutely not a problem you should expect to solve on your own. Props to you for bringing it here, but geeze the average SciForums member isn't much older than you, and even some of the grownups here might not be your best role models. Please do yourself (and the people in your life) a favor and find someone a little better qualifed to give you the advice you need! I may seem like a nice stable trustworthy adult, and at 69 perhaps I am, but I never raised any children so I can only see your problem from your perspective, not from the perspective of an experienced elder of the tribe.
Nevertheless, you are a mature, objective, intelligent, extremely informative and helpful person. I have, over the couple years I have been here, learned a lot from you and understood myself quite bit better in discussions with you. So until the need arises, I think these discussions will more than serve the purpose!
I see that you haven't lost your sense of humor!
I guess so, though at the time, it was very much an attempt at humour very much in line with what Saturnine Pariah said. Besides, as I said,
it is indeed worth it. I had said in the past that I would prefer the Truth to Happiness and I stand by that even now. I even replied to "which story do you prefer" in the Life of Pi as "It isnt relevant what I prefer. I would [obviously] like the tiger story to be true but I want the one that is true, regardless of which one it is." To gain the perspective I have gained, to understand the world as we know of it rather than as the religiously coloured worldview I had before, to appreciate the beauty of an orchid not just visually but ecologically and evolutionarily [as Feynman memorably said], to appreciate nature like Attenbrough and the Universe like Sagan is damn well worth the emotional, psychological and philosophical trauma we have to face as a part of the cutting age of our evolving culture. If Blake were alive today, watching Sagan's Cosmos may very well have been the inspiration for this:
"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."
We need stories, we need dreams. They are full of metaphors, which bridge the gap between reality and fiction. The give a simplified view of the universe that helps us make sense out of it. I am alarmed by the fact that the younger generation of Americans would rather watch ordinary people do ordinary things than be taught to dream.
What's wrong with the talent contests? We've had talent contests for centuries before television. "American Idol" has produced quite a few stars, and even the losers turn in astounding performances. "So You Think You Can Dance" is utterly amazing. Some of the routines these young kids develop on their own are incredible. And they too have gone on to become highly-regarded professionals.
Since the invention of television, entertainment has become a much larger industry than it used to be. There's always room for one more star. I've gone to see both Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry in concert.
See, this is the kind of the rosy perspective that appealed to me in The Doctor. I was quite down at the time I wrote that and now having read this, I realise how important perspective really is.
It's been well established that laughter is good for our health. It releases beneficial endorphins. And one of the many great things about it is that it is contagious! When a person sees someone else smiling, the probability is that he will start smiling too.
One of the little things I try to do to make the world a tiny bit better is to just walk around smiling.
Indeed. Every little helps. An empire for a horseshoe, innit? Butterfly wings and tornadoes.
And a bit more of music seems fitting [I swear it isnt dubstep, its something you would like] -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlYnqIFYYH8
One of the things we have done forever, to accommodate the needs of our caveman, is to play sports. Sports are quite violent, and they are genuine battles between you and an adversary. They activate many of the same areas in the brain as real combat. But the difference is that when the game is over, (usually!) no one is dead or even seriously injured. We're even able to get many of the same salutary effects from simply watching other people play sports. I've never been a sports fan--like religion, it seems to be absent from my DNA. But I envy the people who can sit engrossed in a baseball/football/basketball/soccer/tennis game or some other kind of athletics. It must be so cathartic! I envy the people who paste a sticker on their car with the name and logo of their favorite sports team, who talk passionately about the last game on their lunch break, who know the names of every member of that team and their win/loss numbers back to 1928.
As an avid sports fan, I can confirm that this is indeed the case.
Indeed. We see the violence around us and wish it were less. If you had a time machine and could bring back somebody from the Roman, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, etc. Empires, they would be astounded at how peaceful our lives are.
Speaking of which, one of the lectures series I have aquired is this:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=3810
