Let's add two more logs to the "despicable humanity" pyre

30 March 2019

Homo sapiens — much less attractive than ticks, roaches and amoebic dysentery?

Yesterday, I pointed to the representative phenomenon of wealthy Americans pleading for money to stop San Francisco's homeless from having places live.

Today, let me drag in the equally indicative Brexit mess, as well as Aeon's accurately snarky overview of humanity's most attractive traits.

First, Brexit

Here we are three years down the road from 2016's withdrawal vote. In the meantime, nothing realistic has been done to prepare for the withdrawal.

Now — with just a few days left until a probably economically catastrophic "no deal" exit from the European Union takes place — many British businesses are scrambling to plan for their probably unhappy futures.

What is sociologically notable (with regard to Brexit) is that a conniving, purely self-interested and shockingly irresponsible politician, David Cameron — completely unnecessarily — began the island nation's plunge into metaphorical darkness.

And afterward:

still more masses of manipulative

grossly self-centered and accountability-avoiding politicians

like Prime Minister Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and the entirety of Parliament

as well as virtually any other politician walking by

eagerly threw coal into the Train to Chaos's already overheated furnace.

Naturally, British Business is today wondering exactly what it pays government leadership to do.

We can infer that government's "kill the babies" clown act is the answer to that question.

Second, a persuasive description of humanity's most representative traits

Here I quote Aeon, which is "a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview".

Aeon summarized Psychology's finding about Homo sapiens this way:

We view minorities and the vulnerable as less than human.

We experience Schadenfreude (pleasure at another person’s distress) by the age of four . . .

We believe in karma – assuming that the downtrodden of the world deserve their fate.

We are blinkered and dogmatic.

We would rather electrocute ourselves than spend time in our own thoughts.

We are vain and overconfident. . . . even jailed criminals think they are kinder, more trustworthy and honest than the average member of the public.

We are moral hypocrites.

We are all potential trolls.

We favour ineffective leaders with psychopathic traits.

We are sexually attracted to people with dark personality traits. . . . thus risking further propagating these traits.

The moral? — It really is too bad that Hell (as a form of re-educational "karma") does not exist

Perhaps when artificial intelligence takes over the world, things will get better. Provided that AI manages to teach itself better than we have ourselves.

Extinction is not a bad alternative, either. My curmudgeonish self rather appreciates that likelihood.

Rationality's psychic comfort lies in adopting Geological Time's perspective, doesn't it?

PeteFree.com

Let's add two more logs to the "despicable humanity" pyre