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Thread: View of human nature?

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    Default View of human nature?

    If you have a view, does it match one of these? Or something else?

    A - everyone has some good somewhere inside them; some remnant of the innocent child that, given the right person and the right circumstance, can be reached and touched

    B - everyone has some of this good in them, but a few people have so many layers of scars and life experience, that the good can never be reached, it is only there in their head and cannot be reached/toucched/applied to other people

    C - some people are just rotten to the core...whatever good might once have been there, is long gone. There is nothing to access.

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    Default Re: View of human nature?

    None of the above.

    I mostly see humans as animals who follow their instincts, like other animals, they just do it and aren't even aware of their own instincts. This doesn't make them particularly good or bad, just survivors who tend to work hard to find the best deal they can for themselves. Even when it comes to groups, arguably humans join/side/protect groups because they benefit. Again not a bad thing, just what we have to do. I do think humans are wired to be more protective of those genetically close to them, and a spouse (or others in that role) but I view this mostly as a smart genetic strategy. Those who are good at taking care of their own offspring are more likely to have their own genes survive and thrive, so whoever has such genes is likely to pass them on.

    That said, with sufficient social training our intellect makes it possible to overcome some of our animal nature. Unfortunately this is not entirely positive and can leave people feeling depressed, confused, with a personality that is unstable, unable to merge their intellectual socially trained beliefs with what their instincts drive them to feel (e.g., who people say they are attracted to often doesn't jive with what really drives them emotionally and instinctually).

    Again, it is not a bad thing we strive to overcome our instincts because animals are often pretty damn brutal towards each other. Still, I think people end up mentally healthier when they learn that their brain is not some unified entity, but more like a bunch of joined sub-brains, evolved during different times in history, often at odds with itself. An awareness of our raw animal side is not an excuse to be a fuck-tard, but it does allow us to see through a large swath of mythological crap we are taught about our nature.

    Now that said, I've worked with sociopaths and criminals who had some serious mental problems. There is no question in my mind that if you look at humans on a huge bell curve, your going to find extremes of everything, including those who have extreme aggression. Funny thing is they might have been the alpha people if they were animals and there was no law. Hm.. likewise on the other end, some people seem to show genuine altruism. But most people seem to me to be in the middle, not particularly more or less altruistic, or aggressive, then the norm... just trying to find a piece of pie for themselves. Good enough.

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