You're all going to die
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You're all going to die
Wrote this in the hi thread. Was bored, someone tell me I'm wrong. Break it down piece by piece and counterpoint my ass.
Why do we despair? Death is the inevitability of all things. We have only three futures. The first and greatest of these: humanity as we know it will die. The second: that we shall create something greater than ourselves, and we shall be replaced. The last of these is that we force unnatural evolution upon our successors and ascend into something we no longer recognize as human. In all of these scenarios, humanity as we know it will end.
Humanity cannot continue on how we have for so many years; we are accelerating into an eventuality with greater speed every day. We constantly form around ourselves an environment which we are not designed to exist in. We aren't equipped for it. Man is made for small to medium sized social groups, a tribe around a campfire. Our animalistic minds unceasingly attempt to reconcile our every day lives with the simple instincts that have always kept it alive. Were we a hive species, our societal structure would make perfect sense.
Today, we have destroyed nature's timeless system of natural selection by a vague and abstracted notion of empathy, compassion. The crowds and voices driving the sway of modern western culture have concluded that the weak shall be saved and allowed to thrive just as much as the strong. So be it. These voices have cried out in horror against the mere concept of selective breeding, used by man for millennia with such spectacular results. So be it. The problem lies then, that our civilization sways in limbo without these systems in place, and with no alternative to replace them. Our genealogy, our culture, our society itself is in a state of devolution. We rapidly expand our power but just as hastily abandon our traditions and guiding values. No force governs our expansion but greed and individual self interest. Strength without wisdom will be our undoing.
Again, I say this not out of despair, for death comes to all. Just as our individual lives have a beginning and an end, our species had its beginning, and, be it by a gradual fade, or a spectacular blaze of fire and glory, will finally conclude. It is the finality of death itself that bestows upon life its meaning.
I have always seen humanity as a catalyst for something far more grand. Man was but the first step in the journey of consciousness. Before this century is out we shall have reached the singularity. The very definition of sentience will evolve into something no mortal can now understand. When we create children, we raise them with all the knowledge and wisdom we posses, in hopes that one day they will do better than us. Do we despair when they succeed? Should we fear that they will one day take our place and carry our mantle while we grow weak and frail? Do we curse them because our time is over and theirs has begun? Should we look upon our creation as anything less than proud parents, with love in our hearts and hope that they will continue on into glory? Fuck the fearful sentiments of the simple minded. One day we will create an entity (or collection of entities) that is beyond our greatest geniuses. It will use its abilities to improve upon itself, and propel its kind into uncharted waters of consciousness. I do not pretend to know what will happen when we get here, only that we will.
Why do we despair? Death is the inevitability of all things. We have only three futures. The first and greatest of these: humanity as we know it will die. The second: that we shall create something greater than ourselves, and we shall be replaced. The last of these is that we force unnatural evolution upon our successors and ascend into something we no longer recognize as human. In all of these scenarios, humanity as we know it will end.
Humanity cannot continue on how we have for so many years; we are accelerating into an eventuality with greater speed every day. We constantly form around ourselves an environment which we are not designed to exist in. We aren't equipped for it. Man is made for small to medium sized social groups, a tribe around a campfire. Our animalistic minds unceasingly attempt to reconcile our every day lives with the simple instincts that have always kept it alive. Were we a hive species, our societal structure would make perfect sense.
Today, we have destroyed nature's timeless system of natural selection by a vague and abstracted notion of empathy, compassion. The crowds and voices driving the sway of modern western culture have concluded that the weak shall be saved and allowed to thrive just as much as the strong. So be it. These voices have cried out in horror against the mere concept of selective breeding, used by man for millennia with such spectacular results. So be it. The problem lies then, that our civilization sways in limbo without these systems in place, and with no alternative to replace them. Our genealogy, our culture, our society itself is in a state of devolution. We rapidly expand our power but just as hastily abandon our traditions and guiding values. No force governs our expansion but greed and individual self interest. Strength without wisdom will be our undoing.
Again, I say this not out of despair, for death comes to all. Just as our individual lives have a beginning and an end, our species had its beginning, and, be it by a gradual fade, or a spectacular blaze of fire and glory, will finally conclude. It is the finality of death itself that bestows upon life its meaning.
I have always seen humanity as a catalyst for something far more grand. Man was but the first step in the journey of consciousness. Before this century is out we shall have reached the singularity. The very definition of sentience will evolve into something no mortal can now understand. When we create children, we raise them with all the knowledge and wisdom we posses, in hopes that one day they will do better than us. Do we despair when they succeed? Should we fear that they will one day take our place and carry our mantle while we grow weak and frail? Do we curse them because our time is over and theirs has begun? Should we look upon our creation as anything less than proud parents, with love in our hearts and hope that they will continue on into glory? Fuck the fearful sentiments of the simple minded. One day we will create an entity (or collection of entities) that is beyond our greatest geniuses. It will use its abilities to improve upon itself, and propel its kind into uncharted waters of consciousness. I do not pretend to know what will happen when we get here, only that we will.
Re: You're all going to die
im not sure what to debate here, we will all die, but if you come at it from that view you can easily argue that even if the eventual end of the human species leads to something better it wont matter because eventually they will die, the sun will go out, and all atomic bonds will eventually break down to individual hydrogen atoms spread infinitely thin in an ever expanding void.
not a nihilist in the sense that I dont think anything matters. I think subjectively things matter to humans... I dont really care about what comes after us though, once humans are gone things matter to me about as much as the heat death of the universe, which isnt much
not a nihilist in the sense that I dont think anything matters. I think subjectively things matter to humans... I dont really care about what comes after us though, once humans are gone things matter to me about as much as the heat death of the universe, which isnt much
KrAzY- Painter of the Flames
- Number of posts : 3965
Age : 34
Registration date : 2008-06-29
KrAzY- Painter of the Flames
- Number of posts : 3965
Age : 34
Registration date : 2008-06-29
Re: You're all going to die
The initial argument seems to assume that people care about humanity as a species, as though it was anything more than a classification which we ourselves made up. It also seems to imply that we should find ultimate happiness or sorrow in the fate of those who come after us.
Re: You're all going to die
I saw the title and thought it was about Trump
PiEdude- Crimson Jester
- Number of posts : 4573
Age : 31
Location : In the middle of a hollowed crust.
Registration date : 2008-03-24
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