Oh no we cant progress?

[Drip Curl Magic]

I have never understood why the fact that certain evils are needed for a balance in a given system justify their existence or even makes them "good". The obvious conclusion would not be that "hey, ignorance is great since it keeps the balance", it would be "the system itself is horribly flawed, I don’t care if it’s the best possible, it’s still flawed to the extent of cruelty." If "good" needs evil to exist, then "good" isn’t very good in the first place, now is it? I might share you’re sentiment that evils such as ignorance, pain, misery, death and tragedy is entertaining (at least if it happens to others) but I still don’t think that justifies there existence though.

 

 

I'm not saying that ignorance is "good". I'm not even saying that good is "good". I'm just saying that there really is nothing any of us can do to stop the forces of nature... we all came out the way we came out because nature is incredibly savage and really does not give a damn... and since you are part of nature, why should you give a damn either? It's all flawed... but I doubt anyone would ever truly want to live a perfect disney life. Life is awesome because of how much it sucks... and people are awesome because of how much we suck.... I love the fact that human beings are still able to wake up every morning and go to work without ever giving a thought as to WHY this person is conforming to some flawed back-asswards system. It's because no one gives a damn. We purposely deny our own futility. I love it... so awesome... it gives me a sence of security knowing that I can't screw up... because nothing is wrong and nothing is right. It's impossible to to good or bad... it's beautiful.

[Drip Curl Magic]

There’s a bit of truth in all of this but here’s my opinion:

Humans are like ants. Don’t you think all antz look alike? I sure do, but I am also aware that none of them is (exactly) alike. We humans are completely identical in all defining features. BUT, like antz, we are different in regard to minor details. This might seem farfetched to all you who cling to statements like "were all unique" and similar self-delusions. Think of it this way; if you tell the ant that it looks like all the others, it would feel offended, just as you do. So once more it’s only our internal bias that keeps us from realizing it.

 

Exactly right. That's how I feel.

[inside the sun]

bang bang

[Drip Curl Magic]

bang bang

 

:cup: :cup:

[inside the sun]

:cup: bang bang

[Drip Curl Magic]

lather, rinse, repeat.

[clapstyx]

You can't lose knowledge, that's why we will never fall back "into the primitive." .

 

Im not sure about that. More and more of our knowledge is being stored electronically. This creates the possibility for loss of knowledge because all that would need to happen is for the electricity to be turned off or fail. As millions of people use air conditioners to solve the problem of global warming an electricty shortage is on the cards making hard drives potentially useless. Paper consumption rates are around 40 times the rate of forest reinstatement so theoretically that will lead to a paper shortage / price increase making written text more scarce. So from that point of view I would say knowledge is in fact in grave danger. A great deal of knowledge has been lost throughout history because of "faulty storeage" two examples might be indigineous knowledge of organic rainforest chemstry (medicines) and even the knowledge of how to build an egyptian pyramid, then there is the stone work of the Mayan peoples. So I would argue that knowledge can and is being lost and more will be lost still.

 

So far as going back to being primitive being our fall back position (I think it is a fallacy in itself because they were much more conscious of how to create a sustainable lifestyle than we are prepared to admit) we wont have that as a fall back position because almost none of us could survive off our own intellect..we are too dumb when it comes to understanding the nature of survival. I dont just mean what tree has edible berries I mean things like minimising resource sacrifice and waste as a primary survival pre requisite. In some cultures you would be speared through the leg for catching more fish than you needed..to us its a badge of honour. We dont really care how much we take or waste because we think that resources are infinately exploitable and that we are smart enough to come up with alternatives when we need them. I am prepared to contend that since we dont have a philosophy on the nature of resourcefullness we are kidding ourselves because we will let the problem get out of hand and it will be beyond our intelligence level to rectify.