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Questions About Human Nature

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Raidation
1. Why do we continue to do things despite the fact that it will harm us eventually?
2. Why do we attempt to mess with nature, and destroy Earth, knowing that we depend on Earth for life?
3. Why do we accept false truths?
4. What is greed?
5. Why do we have a natural attraction to money?

Feel free to add to these and try to answer these. Wink
Indi
Actually, some of these aren't half bad questions, but i do have to criticize the fact that some of them are rather biased (the questions contain implicit assumptions).

Raidation wrote:
1. Why do we continue to do things despite the fact that it will harm us eventually?

There are literally billions of answers to this question, varying from situation to situation, and person to person. Some examples include biological factors that drive us, ignorance to the harm or disbelief of it, weighing the short term benefits higher than the long term harm, and sometimes just self-punishment to appease our need for moral balance. And many, many more.

Raidation wrote:
2. Why do we attempt to mess with nature, and destroy Earth, knowing that we depend on Earth for life?

This is a horribly biased question, and terribly wrong-headed on many levels. What does it mean to "mess with nature"? If i cut down some trees in my backyard and then dam up a river nearby, am i "messing" with "nature"? Are beavers, when they do the same thing? Am i messing with nature when i kill off a species? Are animal predators, when they do the same thing? What about the wind patterns - when they shift and the resulting change to the ecosystem kills of a species, is the wind messing with nature?

And who is destroying Earth? i don't even know of anyone who even has that capability today. Certainly some of the more powerful nations could manage to do a hell of a lot of damage to it... but destroy it? Not even close.

Raidation wrote:
3. Why do we accept false truths?

Once again, there are billions of answers to this question. Sometimes out of ignorance that they are false, sometimes to avoid cognitive dissonance, sometimes because the alternative is worse, and so on.

Raidation wrote:
4. What is greed?

Assuming you don't want a dictionary definition: greed is a natural mechanism we've evolved to encourage us to gather as many resources as possible and hold on to them so we're ready just in case hard times come. We are greedy because we are survivors - we are the hominids that made it - and greed is what made us outlast the Neanderthals. We were greedier, we were nastier, and we were a bit luckier... and here we are, alive today.

Don't knock greed. Greed kept us alive through all the hard times our species lived through. But, like so many natural drives that helped us survive throughout our evolution, it needs to be controlled to live in a stable society.

Raidation wrote:
5. Why do we have a natural attraction to money?

We don't. Put a hundred dollar bill and a cardboard box in front of a toddler, and see which one they go for.

If you mean money in the theoretical sense - as in, wealth - see the greed answer above. Desiring more resources is adaptive when evolving in a harsh environment. But now that we live in societies, we need to control that attraction.
HalfBloodPrince
I agree with all five of Indi's answers. But seriously, make your questions a bit more specific; they're a little broad...
Denvis
Raidation wrote:

3. Why do we accept false truths?


You wanna know the truth? YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH?! WELL YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! That's why Very Happy
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