What Is Human Nature? Besides An Easy Excuse For Whatever System Someone Is Pushing...

kennyskitchen (72) in science • 7 years ago (edited)

View this post on Hive: What Is Human Nature? Besides An Easy Excuse For Whatever System Someone Is Pushing...

7 years ago by kennyskitchen (72)

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cortexx (57) · 7 years ago

This kind of system should be the norm of human being:

Create a system where the most rewarded behavior is cooperation & compassion, and every human is going to be more cooperative & compassionate.

But our system right now is:

Create a system where the most rewarded behavior is competition & apathy, and every human is going to be more competitive & apathetic.

We still on the process of becoming compassionate, it might very painful to people helping each other out, because we're not used to it, the system right now is design to make our ego to grow and be selfish. If we make a system like helping each other out imagine what we can accomplish through voluntarism, we could have much abundance and prosperity and peace.

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elamental (68) · 7 years ago

Human nature is existing, breathing, eating, living, experiencing... not a generality. To make an argument using human nature as the backbone is simply lazy rhetoric. Unfortunately it is used often in many arguments, I hear it all the time. I am even guilty of using it in the past, but we cannot truly catagorize human nature even if we tried. We are too complex in too many ways for our nature to be fully understood. Nice mic drop btw.

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kennyskitchen (72) · 7 years ago

So true. Human nature is to live... until we die haha!

It's gotten to the point where this argument annoys me almost as much as people saying "it's always been that way".

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elamental (68) · 7 years ago

Hey, it is what it is, lol.

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makinstuff (68) · 7 years ago

Very insightful @kennyskitchen, I too hold the opinion that we are programmable beings. Since we are social creatures, we pick up cues constantly and are adjusting ourselves to fit within a specific group. We are highly adaptable beings with great power to create and alter reality. I've tried to explain to some friends that I believe that many problems we face are from the systems of coercive control that have collectively been built. I believe that fundamentally the outside world is a reflection of our internal self. There will be no widespread change until individuals grow and change internally toward inner peace and joy.

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churdtzu (68) · 7 years ago

Nice one brother. When people say stuff like "it's human nature to pursue self-interest", even assuming that's true, it's very broad. Individuals have different standards for what satisfies them, so their self-interest can lead them in very different directions.

I have read that when a pregnant mother's cortisol levels are high, the baby will react by developing an angry, competitive "nature" or predisposition. The cortisol signals to the child that you've got to be tough in this world. So when a child is born and raised in a loving environment, that's when magic happens.

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kennyskitchen (72) · 7 years ago

Absolutely! Whatever the environment tells them is what is necessary/beneficial will be where their self-interest directs them to, so the rules of the game determine the behavior, even assuming a 100% tendency towards self-interest.

That would certainly make sense that those early stressors would play out in that way later in life. The concept of the 7 generation ripple, from so many different indigenous cultures, seems like something that has basically been scientifically proven at this point.

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spreadfire1 (64) · 7 years ago

well placed mic drop ;-)
I have similar views and experiences...
It's amazing what the humand mind can experience just through imagination (books, movies, games, ...).
So it fits well when you say

I've lived [...]

as if you were really there.

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kennyskitchen (72) · 7 years ago

Haha, thank you! I give so much credit to SciFi & fantasy for my flexibility of mind, and who I've become. Experiencing multiple lives in this one life is such a gift!

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colinhoward (61) · 7 years ago

"It's pretty bad science to observe the rats in one cage, and then assume that their behavior must be a perfect representation of all rats that have/will ever exist(ed)."

This is it. Human 'nature' cannot properly be observed when we have collectively existed within artificial constructs of people outside of our awareness for generations. The existence of governments, media, and control systems of all kinds creates a hostile environment driven by artificial scarcity and competition.

Attempting to ascertain a degree of certainty when it comes to what constitutes human nature is a bit frivolous in this regard.

Of course if we put humans in a cage with limited pieces of cheese, we're going to rip each other to shreds to survive. That's not 'human nature', that's disconnection from nature.

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artisticscreech (62) · 7 years ago (edited)

I largely agree with this. The nature argument is fine when we talk about our drive to meet our basic needs (food, sleep, et cetera) but it falls apart when it is applied to more complex actions. I must admit I have misused it in this way at times, though.

I particularly like how this applies to the idea of subjective morality. If very little can be called part of our nature it implies that morality is not a thing that we are born with. I cover psychedelic use and the drug war and when I do my research I run into a lot of "moral" arguments from the anti-drug types and they all seem to fail to understand that their morality is not the only morality.

Anyway I will stop rambling at you. Good Post.

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thought.sandwich (47) · 7 years ago

@kennyskitchen one of the best posts we've read in a while!
And yes, human nature is something everyone seems to define in a way that suits their needs best.
When in fact only the things that are common to us as a species and not a country, culture or subculture are part of our human nature.
A very well written post and thank you for including the links at the end!
We make motivational self-improvement videos on our blog and if you ever want to collaborate let us know!

Love, Thought Sandwich

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edave (56) · 7 years ago (edited)

The phrase: fiction reveals truths that reality obscures is so right that we only have to take a look at our history to realize many people using their pure imagination predicted things that are now a REALITY.

How many people were called crazy and lunatic centuries ago when someone dared to say that one day man would have the ability to build things that can fly? These people were turned down simply because they couldn't come up with a tangible evidence that supported their beliefs and ideas.

We always need to keep in mind that if we don't possess the knowledge or technology to accomplish what is considered impossible at the time, it doesn't mean it cannot be possible.

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designer-nouman (25) · 7 years ago

good information

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andrewdhall (28) · 7 years ago

Well drafted post. Great content! I to see the conditioning in society. Programming everyone to believe they are a certain "type".

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sunlit7 (59) · 7 years ago

The awkward moment when you realize that the sound of nature is the sound of millions of animals, birds, and insects desperately trying to get laid.....or the sounds of survival for the fittest.

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manofmiracles (48) · 7 years ago

Great post. Love your humor. Pls check out my post
https://steemit.com/life/@manofmiracles/the-truth-about-government

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arborescente (34) · 7 years ago

Gran punto de vista el que compartes, en mi concepto la verdad está oculta a plena vista, en este caso la naturaleza del humano se revela desde el presente, saludos.

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mozhgan.naghian (28) · 7 years ago

The content was learning

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zee0272 (25) · 7 years ago

Fear inhibits action, adaptation and growth. We are fed so much fear on a daily basis, by design.

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lishu (60) · 7 years ago

This is a very goog question. I use the concept of human nature a lot in my posts and I just realized that I don't even have a basis way of describing what I think it is, and after thinking about it I am still lost :)

Although I have no idea how to describe it, I think I understand part of it. As an example, I think that we have a tendency to aspire for the better, we also use a combination of feelings and logic in relating to things, but this is still very vague :)

Maybe human nature is what rests between biological imparatives and cultural norms.

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