Human nature is to lie, cheat, steal and murder. Humans are evil and chaotic creatures that cant be trusted! Paraphrasing some popularized thought...or at least, it seems popular enough. The whole of human history has been a steady march toward increased freedom, mobility, and wealth. While poverty and desperation continue to plague the human race, it is also true that never before have so many had so much. Where once it was inconceivable to travel from one side of the planet to the other, those in wealthy countries can now essentially trade an average of 82 labour hours to earn enough wealth to buy a round the world trip that would once have taken years to complete, never mind the exceptional wealth that would be required to pay for it. As we see the world through the eyes of creatures that can recognize contrast, we can take note of incredible comfort and compare it to incredible discomfort; but we should be careful not to get swept up in the present and ignore the past. Indeed, it has been much worse in times past. When people speak of human nature and human history in negative terms, this is what I think of. Looking back and looking around us, Its easy to pick out the more negative curves in our historical path, but weve achieved so much and done so many good things! So many of these good things though, are individual accomplishments. There have been some rather major ones, like say, the discovery of penicillin. Thats pretty amazing and notable, but the positive side of collective human history is more often than not, much less notable. When a mechanic fixes someones car so that they can continue to access increased mobility; when a farmer plants seeds in the ground to grow food; when a second hand shop sells someone a pair of pants, when gas is delivered by pipe to sometimes home...all of these sorts of things are positive events in human history and add up quickly. They amount to so much, but are nearly impossible to observe in any dramatic sense. There are statistics that are collected and numbers that are crunched to measure GDP, employment and so on, but theyre basically noise. Easy to lose sight of and not easy to give any deep or substantial meaning to. Its much easier to emotionally connect to a mass murder or revolutionary innovation than it is to emotionally connect to someone, somewhere, buying their first car or suffering from a tribal illness in a private hospital room. The human experience is an exceptionally positive one in aggregate terms, but incredibly difficult to quantify as such. When someone speaks of human nature in disparaging tones, I cant help but be bewildered by it when I look around me. Dont get me wrong, I understand the cynicism. Im not trying to say that such comments are born of stupidity, or dim wit; Im just saying that from where I stand, the perspective is impossible for me to share.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 19:53:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015