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Is mankind forever advancing toward a better state of being?
Or is human nature unchanging, and only the circumstances of our lives change?
Are the two joined? And if so, to what extent?
This is an old debate that I would like us pick up, or pick at! The recent death of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (pronouced Levee Strohss. He was French and NOT related to making jeans!) has started me thinking along those lines again.
So I would like your opinions about this whole matter.
OPEN DEBATE!
I think the two are intwined. If humanity is constantly striving for betterment, it becomes an unchangeable part of human nature. For the most part, however, I'd agree with the unchanging human nature. It takes quite a bit of outside influence to change a person's views. Without it, humanity tends to "rut" itself into inflexibility.
I think she was pretty before, now she looks fake, those lips the most.. I mean shes pretty and has a nice body and all... F cups? come one! I think he just gets off on that kinda power... I dont think there is anything perfect. I think human kind is every changing but will never be perfectQuote:
Originally Posted by Knuckles
I believe once, a decades ago, we were starting on the road to perfection, then something went wrong and now we're falling further towards idiocracy every day. We've stopped worrying about AIDS, Cancer, and Time Travel and started worrying about who can make an erection and sex better.
A lot of people are saying humanity is getting worse, I just think we're going back to our more primal senses. Violence, sexuality, and greed are the things that have driven the creation of civilization and most likely its downfall and recreation. They are our most primitive and original centers of thought. Look back on the caveman. You pity him/her for their so-called lesser thought ability. If you really think about it, the caveman might be the very peak of human senses. Every man either provided for himself and perhaps his family, or died. Every woman found their mate, every time, unless every man in their little community was dead. There was little fear of social problems, just that of food sources. Some might say they were uncivilized and atrocious, but it seems a lot better than the world today.
Mankind has become smarter, but that has only given us new ways to screw each other over. Every attempt in history to create a "perfect" society has ended in failure.
Humanity's general personality is the same as it has been when we were cavemen. We are afraid of what we do not know of, we attempt to kill anything we do not like, and we are obsessed by things that will eventually prove to be meaningless. We have increased our intelligence significantly, yes; but to what cause? To make a bigger boom, to get more hair? Or to actually do things that will truly advance humanity?
Humanity will not, or perhaps cannot, change. The technology of humanity, the ideas of humanity, the intelligence of humanity will always be increasing, but the true nature of mankind is and always will be the same.
~Troq
So why don't we stop trying to make it perfect and try just making it better?
Exactly. Unfortunately, I for one am convinced that truely bettering human kind would require a unification of civilizations; at the very least, a global peace treaty. I say this is unfortunate because we all know how much warfare is loved by mankind.
Of course. the world would be nothing without war. It's how our countries make the most money and attempt to get out of debt. Though, inevitably it only drags us further down...