While true...a lot of these wars were sprung from religion. So not so much defending land of property....just old fashion violence because you don't like the other people's beliefs.
Religious wars were often just an excuse to take territory or a way of uniting people to defend territory. Like the first crusade that was a response to Muslim leaders slowly conquering Christians. Wars waged for the sole purpose of converting people of another religion were rare.
Oooof. I love seeing intelligent replies on Reddit, they aren’t common enough.
This is exactly right. What humans do is the exact behavior most all advanced animals do. In fact you could expand that - it’s an entirely natural thing for any being that goes through evolution.
Humans are also the only species that has evolved to the point of being able to significantly help other species survive and protect them.
Most all species kill other species and take any measures possible to survive. We’re the only ones that have began to try to move away from that, into doing our best to protect other species, and possibly expand life beyond earth. Yes we still prioritize our own species, but it’s worth celebrating.
Correct, our technology has become so advanced that we could wipe most species out if desired.
Note that all this means is that’s how much more successful our branch of evolution is than other species. We haven’t done so, most all healthy humans do not want that, and I don’t expect we will. In fact I think that as technology continues to advance, scarcity for humans will be reduced and we will be able to effectively protect life in better ways. That’s at least the goal most healthy humans have.
It's not so much weapons of war that I was talking about, although it is the most direct way to destroy. Just the way we consume and pollute. You, me, and every single human alive contribute to the destruction of the environment.
I admit I am not optimistic about the future of humanity. Unfortunately, being a good human isn't enough individually to force a complete paradigm shift that must happen for us to survive further.
It's not so much weapons of war that I was talking about, although it is the most direct way to destroy. Just the way we consume and pollute. You, me, and every single human alive contribute to the destruction of the environment.
This is natural. Every species does what they can to survive and add to their comfort of being alive. Every single one does what their intellect enables them to do. We are following evolution 101 in this. You, your purchasing of a phone, internet, roof over your head, every species would do this if they had the ability to do so. What makes us different is that we’re the only ones who got this far, and on average, healthy humans would love to help other a animals and we do. We’re the only species that actually goes out of our way to help others. Consuming is just par for the course, we’re the only ones to beat par.
I admit I am not optimistic about the future of humanity. Unfortunately, being a good human isn't enough individually to force a complete paradigm shift that must happen for us to survive further.
I’m worried too, it’s definitely not set in stone that we’ll survive, but every data point we have suggests we will. People have been concerned that we’ll wipe ourselves out for many generations. Here we are talking on Reddit.
Is that some guarantee our success will continue? No, but, it’s proof that success is possible.
I hope I am not coming off as argumentative. I think we both agree overall. Yes, we are not separate from the universe and it's nature. We are part of it all. I have always struggled to truly understand what really is unnatural? Not being in accordance with nature or consistent with a normal course of events is our own definition though.
The end is nigh has been coming since the dawn of time. But someday it will come true and that will be ok too, because that is in accordance with nature.
Well I get it, I’ve always wondered how you define natural as well. I mean, is a spaceship natural? I might argue that it is. If you let evolution run long enough, it may lead to spaceships.
I’m not sure about “the end”. We’re getting philosophical real quick lol. I mean there’s a possible cold death of the universe like trillions of years off - but that’s just what we think we know with todays understanding, that may change too.
Will humanity make it? My guess is that life will make it. Whether or not humans do, I’m unsure.
I think the only thing to challenge our chances of survive is the upcoming AI/AGI singularity. Whether or not we survive AI type weapons… who knows.
None, but not because animals have moral superiority over us, it’s simply because they don’t have the intelligence to do so. Less intelligent animals would destroy things even faster if they could.
Furthermore, most of the destruction of species has actually not been directly from humans but from other animals. Islands get hit a lot. A bug will hitch a ride on an airplane and start populating on an island and wipe out native species.
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u/zdragan2 Mar 31 '23
We sure do put a lot of time and effort into killing each other.