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Belonging to a tight-knit group ensured our ancestors' survival, yet it also creates potential for discrimination, conflicts and difficulties in accepting those outside our immediate circles.
In today's day and age, humans are still splintered into innumerable "tribes", which brings forth far more trouble than happiness- especially in the age of information, at least so I think.
Why haven't we as a species overcome this trait by now?!
We have the intelligence and communication to organize on a global scale, yet choose to fight each- and everything outside our immediate bubbles, which is also especially true inside this space.
One would think that we would be far better off as a species when we'd decide to overcome our differences and simply work together, instead of fighting each other left and right and profiting off of each other's backs.
I know, naive huh? Humans working together unconditionally... Utopian, however I really think that it could usher-in a golden age for humanity, but that most likely won't happen, for the spirit of "I got mine so fuck yours" is still very much alive.
0 sats \ 8 replies \ @Krv 6 Jan
Simple answer: Humans en-masse don't ever change their nature unless external forces make it necessariy. The only thing that has done so is tecnological advances, but even that is limited. Humans will only change if technological advances change who can breed successfully or if the advance persists over many generations to maintain new behavior.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Krv 6 Jan
Anyone who tries to drive change in the world comes face to face with the difficulty of convincing others of things and, if they are paying attention, that people only change in response to their social environment (tribalism). We can see this now as Bitcoin is suddenly going to become something good to even the normies as the ETFs and elites suddenly start saying good things about it.
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Kinda sad, ain't it?
"If they say so, I think so".
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Krv 6 Jan
If your goal is to move humanity forward, I agree, it can be very sad indeed. But, at the same time, it is also what makes society sturdy. If it were too easy to change, no change would last.
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Well said.
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Is that a flaw or a feature?
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Krv 6 Jan
It is what it is. Humans evolved in tribes and thus they have high tribal instincts. Characteristic of that tribal nature is that tribes that changed too rapidly died and tribes that changed too slowly also died. The correct balance thrived, but it is on the side of very slow change. This is what made the current humans exist. Otherwise, we'd be something different. So, as it is, if we want humanity to change there's only two things that will do it. Either what succeeds in breeding changes or technological changes in the environment push certain behaviors. Only the first creates innate change. The second lasts as long as it causes changes in the first.
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Hm.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Krv 6 Jan
Or if the technology is somehow very sturdy and unstoppable. Like, say, Bitcoin.
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I think it comes from a deep threat response. People generally I'd say are quite insecure, they look for a majority to agree with them rather than walk their own path, and I feel this is done by a continuous need for validation. Perhaps it's a societal thing, it releases dopamine when we are praised so we constantly search for it. You're more likely to find it in a group that shares your interests/views etc. "we're from this country" give us a solidarity to a stranger we'd otherwise not have concerned ourselves with but we seek their validation of our behaviour or life choices. I think it's a taught behaviour for people to be so afraid of failing or being wrong they'll look to whoever will back up their narrative, just to get that dopamine. Being wrong or being outside the consensus can bring on a lot of anxiety for people. I think there's some avoidance of that sometimes. I think tribalism comes from an instinctual need to belong somewhere, you're safe when validated because it means you're not alone, and being alone is dangerous in the wild. I think humans have developed technology faster than we've evolved psychology to keep up with that technology. We don't need "people on our side" to be safe anymore, yet we seek it because that's instinctually driven.
As an example of technology moving faster than human evolution, take a look at obesity rates as an example. By storing more energy as fat than your body needs it displays that our bodies still prioritise energy conservation. With this in mind, I'd say that the ability to get food delivered at the tap of a button means you've expended less energy than you've gained. You're in an energy surplus but your body is reserving that fuel with the expectation that you'll need to fight or flight or even hunt/forage.
Went off on a bit of a tangent but to wrap it back up I think our psyche is still rooted in an instinctual need to be safe and to us numbers = safety so we look to any way we can to increase those numbers, and we also get a socially taught dopamine rush from a validation when someone agrees with us.
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Wow, spot on.
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I had a couple spare minutes and a sudden brain wave.
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Yeah, feels good to have one every now and then, ain't it.
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I'm hoping I didn't come across as arrogant, I was following that thought process down whilst typing furiously to keep up with my racing thoughts.
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Arrogant you are, but I'd still let you sit on my lap, brother.
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😂
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Is this something to be shed instead if something to be honored? I think modern society has much to re-learn from "indigenous" people's. I think we need to enhance our natural leanings, not necessarily replace them all.
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Humans as part of "nature" is a foregone concept- and it's reflected by the very way we live nowadays.
We don't live "in" or "with" nature anymore, but in giant landscapes of steel and concrete.
We don't respect nor protect nature anymore- we take as much of it as we can, and than a little.
Without technology, our species would face certain death- not as a whole, but most.
And yes, there are exemptions, but those don't weigh-up in the slightest against the norm.
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What is unnatural about technology and the structures we build? Birds build nests, some animals dig tunnels. Human construct buildings and cities. Are humans not part of this nature you speak of?
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Those things are short term and play a part in the ecosystem, our mega-cities constructed with materials which will last for hundreds of years (and some practically forever) are not.
If anything, they destroy existing ecosystems.
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Is that also not the nature of things? Ever witnessed how a single beaver can influence an ecosystem? I have seen one beaver flood a field affecting the homes and lives of countless animals.
I think you make my point. Or I yours.
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It's about the scales, my man.
What is a field compared to even a small village nowadays?!
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I am not asking you to compare. I am asking your to use imagination and interpolative or extrapolative thought
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We can still be friends though.