You’re not wrong, but there’s a kind of irony in it when you talk about ending humanity because of it.
There’s a lot to hate about humanity if you have humanity and have human values.
There’s nothing objectively wrong about being cruel or destructive or dishonest or greedy or abusive or murderous and I imagine most hypothetical alien species would look at those things and say “what’s wrong with any of that?”
But because humans evolved as social creatures and our survival depended upon trusting one another, we’re constantly trying to judge ourselves against values that can’t actually be met.
So we look at ourselves and say we’re a really horrible species, but that statement only makes sense because ironically we’re a really glorious species that’s fabricated these completely irrational things like love and compassion and empathy and honesty and sacrifice that no other species has (though many other social species do have bits and pieces of them).
And we’ll forever hate ourselves for not being able to live up to our own values.
A large amount of my outlook revolves around the notion that once you can forgive ANY human for existing, the justifications for holding much of anything against(or mistreating) any but a select (relatively)few just melt away and indulging in the notion that I myself am exceptionally horrible (self-loathing) is just vanity.
I honestly don’t get how someone can come to the conclusion that ending humanity is absolutely desirable and not just skip to the step of ending themselves. That’s surrendering the high ground at step one, and just because I believe they deserve to draw breath more than they do doesn’t mean I won’t block anyone who openly subscribes to such ideals in a heartbeat.
We got here by being horrible. I’ll believe any other intelligent(or otherwise) life got so far without similar skeletons in their closets when I see it. Not them or anyone else claiming it, but like, a god’s-eye-view of their entire history. Pretending we can’t get over it is just an excuse for further horrors.
Tbf, there is a fair amount about humanity to hate.
You’re not wrong, but there’s a kind of irony in it when you talk about ending humanity because of it. There’s a lot to hate about humanity if you have humanity and have human values. There’s nothing objectively wrong about being cruel or destructive or dishonest or greedy or abusive or murderous and I imagine most hypothetical alien species would look at those things and say “what’s wrong with any of that?”
But because humans evolved as social creatures and our survival depended upon trusting one another, we’re constantly trying to judge ourselves against values that can’t actually be met. So we look at ourselves and say we’re a really horrible species, but that statement only makes sense because ironically we’re a really glorious species that’s fabricated these completely irrational things like love and compassion and empathy and honesty and sacrifice that no other species has (though many other social species do have bits and pieces of them).
And we’ll forever hate ourselves for not being able to live up to our own values.
A large amount of my outlook revolves around the notion that once you can forgive ANY human for existing, the justifications for holding much of anything against(or mistreating) any but a select (relatively)few just melt away and indulging in the notion that I myself am exceptionally horrible (self-loathing) is just vanity.
I honestly don’t get how someone can come to the conclusion that ending humanity is absolutely desirable and not just skip to the step of ending themselves. That’s surrendering the high ground at step one, and just because I believe they deserve to draw breath more than they do doesn’t mean I won’t block anyone who openly subscribes to such ideals in a heartbeat.
We got here by being horrible. I’ll believe any other intelligent(or otherwise) life got so far without similar skeletons in their closets when I see it. Not them or anyone else claiming it, but like, a god’s-eye-view of their entire history. Pretending we can’t get over it is just an excuse for further horrors.