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The human race, slaves to our own intelect?

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I've noticed over the last few years that the human race is one of the most physically defenseless species on the planet, incapable of surviving whatsoever without tools. These days, people across the world are whining about the troubled economy and how little money they have to make a living, while at the same time the seals at SeaWorld are still just as happy playing with their little toys as ever. All of these animals which we've always looked down on patronizingly are ironically the only ones who are still capable of living happy and carefree existences nowadays.
All of man's great inventions have made us weak. Those dental commercials that talk about how necessary it is to brush your teeth every day of your life or lose all of your teeth never seem to address how relatively recent toothpaste was invented. Julius Caesar never even had a clue that toothpaste would ever be invented, but we don't look in the history books and read about him having atrocious gingivitis, do we? It seems that the more mankind invents to make life easier in these areas like hygene, the more dependent we become. Our bodies have adapted and become less tolerant of so many medical dangers because we never let our bodies' natural defenses do their own jobs and work the way that nature intended them to.
As man needed ways to get natural resources without conflict, he invented money as a compromise. Now we are not even allowed to claim any natural resources unless we have money. It has gone from a clever way to make aquiring goods easier to a neccesary method of acquiring them. Have we become slaves to our own intelect?
 

Penguinist Trainer

Well-Known Member
Yes, because we were raised to be drones for the good of the economy. We spend 12 years in general education, and I can't recall using anything in the real world that I didn't learn in the 2nd grade.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic. That is all I've ever used in life, and I was an honors student all through grade school. I've never learned a trade that would get me anywhere in life. So despite all my potential, I'm still scraping by at the bottom of the barrel in the corporate foodchain.

All I want from life is to build a modest cottage, maybe a farm. I have no interest in generating profit, just enough to provide for a family. Right now though, I doubt that would ever happen because I'm scraping a meek living out of a weekly paycheck.
 
My point exactly, and it seems that half of the things they put in the standards for our education systems are things which are only useful to know in a field spenning only 2-4 specific jobs. Like the stuff I learned in biology last year: half of it seemed like stuff which could never even be applied in the real world unless you are a doctor. They should save that stuff for med. school instead of forcing it down the throats of those who are adamant about avoiding such a line of work.
 

Penguinist Trainer

Well-Known Member
What I would like is if they brought back apprenticeships. You decide what you want out of life, and then your whole educational background is centered around topics in that area.

Even college forces you to take classes you don't want or have an interest in just to broaden your educational background.

Education should be limited to what you will need in life, or what is related to your field of study.
 

superjesus1

Well-Known Member
Well of course we are XD The large hadron collider helps prove my statement, as off topic as that sounds. The research we would gain from that machine is completely irrelevant to anything of importance to regular peoples lives. Apparently one of the things we will discover from it is how the universe is structured and what matter it is constructed from. I, for one, don't care, as ignorant as it sounds =P
It's research like that that will totally mess up the human race so i agree, our ridiculous need to keep finding things out is going to kill us all XS Ending on a cheerful note there XD
 

Tim the turtle

Happy Mudkip
Well I for one like my flushing toilet...
...and my XBox
...and my dental care
...and my antibiotics
...and my shelter
...and my access to clean water at the turn of a tap
...and my food which I don't have to go out and catch my self
...and my literature
...and my art
...and my education
...and my instantaneous communication accross vast distances
...and my clothes

You know what? Advanced civilisation ****ing rocks!
 

DarkPsychoBoost

Future World Emperor
It's true that we don't get to use even half of the things we learn during formal education but still, being limited to one profession with knowledge regarding ONLY that profession would make you a mindless drone, doing the same thing over and over again and not knowing anything else. Sounds like a boring life to me. Keep filling up your brains all your life, knowing stuff rocks.
 
Those dental commercials that talk about how necessary it is to brush your teeth every day of your life or lose all of your teeth never seem to address how relatively recent toothpaste was invented. Julius Caesar never even had a clue that toothpaste would ever be invented, but we don't look in the history books and read about him having atrocious gingivitis, do we?

He swooshed piss, seriously look it up.

Have we become slaves to our own intelect?

We have become victims of our idiocy, that's for sure.
 

Colliepop

Wonderboy
I like toothpaste!

Julius Caesar may not of had toothpaste, but I can guarantee your chances of living a longer, healthier life are better than that of anyone during his time. And hell... Maybe he would of survived multiple stab wounds and a severe beating with aid of modern medicine? Or of completely avoided the assasination all together with modern surveilence.
Have we become slaves to our own intelect?
Slaves to our own intellect? No more than a bull is slave to its horns, or a bear is a slave to its teeth!
The human brain was developed over millions of years of survival of the fittest, only those of our forbears with the strength, in this case, strength of mind, survived to procreate. It allowed us to firstly dominate our predators, than our prey. Now, The Human Enterprise, a mechanism powered solely by the human mind, dominates the entire globe and shows no sign of slowing down.
Face it, The Homo Genus is such a goddamn success that it is nothing but a threat to any ecosystem it enters and everything in it... And any species that can credit itself with a feat as such should be proud.
Hey, I'm not saying life would not be better with out guns, or drugs, or toothpaste commercials , or Ronan Keatings latest album, or any other of the various things that didn't fall off the fairy bubble gum rainbow (even if Ronan is a bit of a fairy), because it likely would be much better without those things, but I am saying that I personally have a preference to waking up in the morning, walking outside, looking the world square in the face and saying 'Planet earth is my b****!', as opposed to say... Squatting on a forest floor, gnawing the ticks out of my skin, and I really don't think any left wing anti-progress pessimism is going to change that.
Perhaps you could say we are the most physically defenseless species on the planet, but name a more physically dangerous creature than you or me? I may not secret a venom that can kill an african elephant in X amount of minutes, but I will happily fire a bullet into any creature that ticks me off, knowing that my bullet is greater than any natural weapon. Pffft... I'll see your poison or tooth or claw, and raise you certain death. My species has the ability to level miles of potential habitat with out so much as standing, can yours?
We don't need to be physically strong, because we are technologically strong. Thats a fact that has been proven over the past 3 mill years or so...
C'mon guys, our ancestors struggled and fought for that intellect you disdain so much. How about some respect?
Seaworld seals can play with their balls all they like, hell, you can join them if you really want. Because I'm sure after a while with them you would no longer be unhappy that you are part of sentient species, that creates, loves, and beautifies, that fears no predator, has hope for the sick, injured, elderly and disabled like no other known living being can.
As for your question, I agree that we are slaves to our own intelect. I just think it aint all that shabby.
 
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Aeron

Bum Eyes
I've noticed over the last few years that the human race is one of the most physically defenseless species on the planet, incapable of surviving whatsoever without tools.

Let me just stop you there.
Physically defenseless? I really don't see where you are coming from here, because we don't have huge spikes sticking out of our skin, or taloons? The human physical defense is probably the greatest of any living being. The physical defense can be summound up in one word (well two), the Mind.
We evolved internally.
Man is the most dominant species on the planet, and why? Because of the mind. Man created tools as not to harm himself, spears, arrows, firearms, these are all our product of physical defense. Whilst Lions hunt with their hands, we on 4x4 with's rifles, because we evolved from a primitive need for harming ourself or using our body as a weapon. If we are being chased, we hide up trees or create traps and misdirection to divert our persuer, unlike say a Lion (same example I know), who will run in a straight line at the pursuer, man will stop. Assess the situation and the enviroment before charging in. So far no other species can do this, they are still trapped in the rudementry stage of evolution, whilst man has an overwhelming Physcial defense, we create shelters, industrialise land, we know how to deal react in say a situation whilst being cornerd by a bear (play dead), and why do we know this? We educate ourself, our mind evolves with us, no other animal can do this, yes they have claws, yes they have sharp teeth, yes they have thick hides, but no they have no rational mind, the human greates physical defense of all is that to not endager ourselfs in the first place.
 

TogeticTheRuler

Well-Known Member
Julius Caesar may not of had toothpaste, but I can guarantee your chances of living a longer, healthier life are better than that of anyone during his time..

Wasn't the life span around his location/time high enough to be near ours?
 

Colliepop

Wonderboy
Lol, it's funny, thats the last part of my post I would expect to be questioned, TogeticTheRuler.
Lets see if I can remember anything from my 'useless' 12 years of generic education.
During the time of Julius Ceasar, the average lifespan of a human being was between 18-30 years.
Infact, until the discovery of Antiseptics, which I think was sometime in the 1800s, the average life expectancy didn't vary much from this figure.
Antiseptics? Thats some profound s***!!!
Thats the magic of Hygeine, baby.
 
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Rufinito18

mE Entertainment
What I would like is if they brought back apprenticeships. You decide what you want out of life, and then your whole educational background is centered around topics in that area.

Even college forces you to take classes you don't want or have an interest in just to broaden your educational background.

Education should be limited to what you will need in life, or what is related to your field of study.

False. Oh so false.

The broad educational background helps you make objective choices instead of subjective. It tears down the walls of prejudice and stereotypes.

^^
 

Colliepop

Wonderboy
Not to mention the oppurtunities it gives anyone wishing to change occupations. Personally, I'm certainly glad I didn't make all my life decisions at 8 years old.
 

pokemaster001

....................
hm?
oh wait, let me get my glasses
 

PartyPokemon

L or Kira?
We're slaves to our own stupidity, that's for certain indeed...
 

DarkRidley

Deals and Issues
The human intellect is what makes our species the most powerful on Earth, and it is what will allow the human race to continue being the dominant species here on our little planet. This is not a bad thing; our condition in life has indeed improved, but we should not sit satisfied with the problems we have, complaining about how we've become slaves to intellect and looking back at the simpler past where we were "more immune" or "capable of physical defence," when we should be worried about the economy. All humans should be trying to do what we can for the human race and for planet Earth.

I sometimes wonder what idealistic past people look into. What was so good about the past?

The mass-killings in the Colosseum, a viciously anti-human form of "entertainment"?

The world of the Middle Ages, in which the Catholic Church repressed the advance of science and knowledge, whilst arresting and killing people as they saw fit?

The inefficient open field system used during feudal times?

Having your social class defined by the clothes you wear, and the punishing of those who wear different clothes?

Meat and salt, among other things, reserved as a luxury for the rich?

The ancient medicines of inefficient herbs and leeching?

The lower life expectancy?

The slave trade?

Torture?

And there are countless other awful things that are long gone. Julius Caesar might not have cleaned his teeth, but he lived in a world where 30 was fairly old, where people laughed at the murder of people in the Colosseum as entertainment and where the people were ruled over by a single, autocratic emperor.

The world we live in today gives us untold luxuries, a far more fair government and long lives, lives in which we should be contemplating how to improve the world. People shouldn't be looking back at a simpler, stupider past and, through the power of rose-tinted spectacles, deciding that it was much better.

This is the world we live in today. Let's try and build on it, improve on it, not sit around wishing that toothpaste didn't exist.
 

Josiah

is your favorite
Well I for one like my flushing toilet...
...and my XBox
...and my dental care
...and my antibiotics
...and my shelter
...and my access to clean water at the turn of a tap
...and my food which I don't have to go out and catch my self
...and my literature
...and my art
...and my education
...and my instantaneous communication accross vast distances
...and my clothes

You know what? Advanced civilisation ****ing rocks!
If you think that's advanced, you should see the stuff the Japanese are cooking up.

If you really want to live a simpler life, go hermit.
 

CRAZY WACKO DUDE

Well-Known Member
The human intellect is what makes our species the most powerful on Earth, and it is what will allow the human race to continue being the dominant species here on our little planet.

Valid, but surely our own intellect has indirectly caused the end of us all? global warming will make the world rise by up to 5 degrees over the next century, due to the recent discovery of the permafrost releasing methane in to the lakes. If the ice melts, mroe methane is present, and so the Earth warms faster. Therefore, our intellect and actions over development in this past century has meant that we have a severe struggle ahead.


This is not a bad thing; our condition in life has indeed improved, but we should not sit satisfied with the problems we have, complaining about how we've become slaves to intellect and looking back at the simpler past where we were "more immune" or "capable of physical defence," when we should be worried about the economy.

The depends upon perspective and values. Humans have the psychological tenedency to quantify everything, in an essence of greed. If we didn't have this quantification aspect to our mind, I admit, we wouldn't be where we are today, but if we do have this quantification, there are bound to be people with a pessimistic view, so a few years of hardship comes around and does us good in the long term.

All humans should be trying to do what we can for the human race and for planet Earth.

Exactly, but we should have unilaterla effort, instead of competing for business due to our greed for shiny pieces of metal.

I sometimes wonder what idealistic past people look into. What was so good about the past?

The discovery of fire? Dynamite used for mining? A civilised way of life that no other terrestrial being has EVER accomplished? Healthcare? The increase in life expectasncy? Cures for disease?

The mass-killings in the Colosseum, a viciously anti-human form of "entertainment"? They were primarily criminals, as that was one of the aspects of punishment. Plus, you have to say that a fighting stance was the joy of the Roman Empire, so it filtered in to culture.

The world of the Middle Ages, in which the Catholic Church repressed the advance of science and knowledge, whilst arresting and killing people as they saw fit? At that stage, people were scared of such revelations. The Bible was just trying to give a quantity to the beginnigns and workings of the universe, and it was well established. Therefore, people reacted in a strong way, for a survival instinct.

The inefficient open field system used during feudal times? The system may have been innefficient, but the open field system was the start of the development of the agricultural system we have today.

Having your social class defined by the clothes you wear, and the punishing of those who wear different clothes? This isn't limited to an archaic way f life, it still happens, as people like being in groups of people, it makes them feel strong. This is why the class divide has never gone away.

Meat and salt, among other things, reserved as a luxury for the rich? The fudal system was there and in place, so they just went on with it

The ancient medicines of inefficient herbs and leeching?Again, as with the Bible, it was an area that they wanted to quantify, yet we joke at how archaic it is. Even so, some of the rbs were correct, and most modern medicined are developed from organic chemicals in the Amazon.

The lower life expectancy? They were less developed than us, as we have a thiudand years of wisdom from their experiences, so that's just something that they lived with

The slave trade? Torture? Admittedly, two of the few things that western society isn't proud of, and things have moved on to rectify that.

And there are countless other awful things that are long gone. Julius Caesar might not have cleaned his teeth, but he lived in a world where 30 was fairly old, where people laughed at the murder of people in the Colosseum as entertainment and where the people were ruled over by a single, autocratic emperor. No worse than the situation we had 90 years ago. In times of need and disorder, people look towards a dictator. Lenin is the prime example. People were unhappy with the current government, and so followed who they thought were reasonable. Also remember, Hitler, for all his ideals, was elected as an alternative to the Weimar Republic, despite his anti semitic views., so people went along with it.

The world we live in today gives us untold luxuries, a far more fair government and long lives, lives in which we should be contemplating how to improve the world.

Say that to the Chinese, or Sri Lanka, or most African nations. the ideals haven't gone away, merely changed and developed. THe ideals of Fascism and cOmmunism are still around in extreme cases, and the West is living in a crippled Capitalist society, so the ideals resonate.

People shouldn't be looking back at a simpler, stupider past and, through the power of rose-tinted spectacles, deciding that it was much better.

We should be looking back, because otherwise we will fall in to a cycle that has repeated for millenia. Democracy may not be great, but it's the best thing we have.

This is the world we live in today. Let's try and build on it, improve on it, not sit around wishing that toothpaste didn't exist.

Agreed, but ignoring the past is the path to failure, so, despite the irrelevancy of toothpaste, the past still has lessons for us.

Statements above are in bold underneath targeted sections.
 
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