Are Humans Stupid or Evil?

[the1ultimate]

Stupid of course, because a truly enlightened person would not be evil.

 

[Gorrister]

Honestly? In my opinion, neither. We're guided half by our feral, animalistic nature and half by our moral, expected-to-live-how-everyone-else-does behaviour. To say we're one thing or another is a blanket statement that cannot really be used to describe anyone.

We follow on impulses sometimes when we have a high hormone count (usually right before sex, or if you catch your wife cheating on you with your best friend). This could lead to what some may see as evil acts (cheating, murder) but at the end of the day, thats just following our impulses. By no means am I saying thats an excuse mind you, of course these things are horrible, but at the end of the day, millions of animals each day kill for pride or leadership, the only thing that makes us different is that we have this idea that we're better than animals, and for the most part, we're right. We're more intelligent, we discovered fire, tools and all that because of our genetic make up, but then again, we also caused a lot of damage to the world via our actions.

So no, I don't think we're evil or stupid. We're different. And thats the most terrifying thing of all.


Bark.

 

[LgMuPPet]

wat makes us stupid is the fact that we humans think we are better then the other animals on earth.
Wat makes us humans evil is the fact that we destroy nature for your own well being.

Someone ones told me : If a tiger kills a man, its a cruel animal, killing innocent people !
But when a man kills a tiger, it's a sport, called hunting...

 

[Samurai Goomba]

So good and evil are measured by hunger?

I wasn't measuring hunger, just the moral imperative.

Whether you believe humanity is evil ultimately comes down to whether you believe in moral relativism or an absolute good/evil system.

Which is...a human invention.

The only 'peers' we ever had were ourselves and dinosaurs (allegedly), both being top of the food chain.

If you believe in a God, we're doing what we're meant to be doing: Finding our own way.
If you don't, then we're organisms trying to procreate and rationalise: Finding our own way.

Trying to confine ourselves within self made boundaries and then chastise ourselves everytime someone steps beyond them is a societal imperative, not a moral one.

We're one of the least stupid creatures on this planet and that alone creates our capacity for "evil".
However, that self same societal imperative sets "evil" outside of society as it's destructive to the whole and therefore we're far less "evil" than creatures without society.

Look at the dolphins who think nothing of rape, infanticide or mugging. The chimpanzees who regularly practice cannibalism, bullying and will pay for porn.

Man has his tools, and his tools can be used for acts of great stupidity or great evil. Man himself tends to sit there and look puzzled.

So you're saying that our superiority is in itself a morality, that our existence defines goodness because we have the power?

The statement that morality itself is a human invention is ITSELF dependent on whether you subscribe to the presence or absence of a higher being. All of your subsequent statements are subjective opinions based on your subscription to one belief system (not that there's anything wrong with that). But you're really in agreement with me. I say if morality is relative, then all mankind is evil, because "evil" is a term used by man to label other men, so we all qualify under some form. You say if morality is relative (because your argument really doesn't work at all with objective morality: many religions have laid out some ground rules very clearly of what is NOT okay. The "Manifest Destiny" argument won't fly.), then all people are good, because "good" and "evil" are meaningless labels.

So really it's the same argument and the same point. There are humans who think nothing of rape, cannibalism, bullying and infanticide (I imagine that was your point). If animals are lower creatures than us, "morality," or what we/they are willing/aren't willing to do isn't the reason. Anything animals have ever done, I bet some person has done at least once. And thought nothing of it.

 

[zeroharpuia]

Neither, Humans are irrelevant.

 

[GirlGamer]

We're not really evil, just ignorant. Evil doesn't come from hatred or cruelty. We just don't realize until too late that what we're doing is wrong.

But then you get people like Adolf Hitler, so... maybe only some of us are evil.

 

[ZeeClone]

Men in black said it best:

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Guys, the very act of the species asking itself this question removes all possibility of stupidity and evilness. It's quite simple. We're intelligent enough to recognise what we're doing is wrong, and we're good enough to want to fix it. Isn't that admirable?

I have a theory, it gose like this:

Every action you do is based on selfisnes. Like typing this, is my act of trying to be smart, that is based on selfisness. You may be trying to save someone from something, why? Ever wonder why we help others. Two basic resons: 1. we feel sorry for them, we help them so we don't feel sorry for them any more. 2. we wana be considered heroes for helping them. And you might be thinking "what if your being forced to do something" well your doing that act to not suffer what will happnen if you don't.

Plese comment and speak your mind.

A lot of people subscribe to this idea. It may be true, but it makes no difference really. Does it matter what the motivation for something good is? Not really. Not unless he's some evil mastermind trying to take over the world. For the most part, sure, be selfish and give me some money to make yourself feel better. It makes me feel better, it makes you feel better, it makes everyone who cares about me feel better. Spread the joy.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So you're saying that our superiority is in itself a morality, that our existence defines goodness because we have the power?

*whacks you on the bonce* No soundbites from my arguments.

Our superiority allows us to have a morality, by which we judge others. Therefore it's sort of meaningless because "lesser" (read: lower in the food chain) life-forms cannot comprehend the basis of morality we imply upon ourselves.

The statement that morality itself is a human invention is ITSELF dependent on whether you subscribe to the presence or absence of a higher being.

Nope, because morality is an artificial creation anyway as religion states the needs of the individual, rather than the many. And that means all of my subsequent statements stand up on their own, TYVM.

But you're really in agreement with me.

Oh I am, am I?

There are humans who think nothing of rape, cannibalism, bullying and infanticide (I imagine that was your point). If animals are lower creatures than us, "morality," or what we/they are willing/aren't willing to do isn't the reason. Anything animals have ever done, I bet some person has done at least once. And thought nothing of it.

You imagine wrong, and are looking at this from a very argument-centric point.

There are humans that do perpetuate the moral "wrongs" that push to exclude them from society for a number of reasons, but they are usually aware of the difference between society and outcasts. Animals that don't have the ability to comprehend social groupings have only comprehension of being outcast (and lesser animals even less than that)

Your point that "There are humans who think nothing about..." only points to the idea that there are humans that think something of these "evils", which means that Humanity is not stupid or evil, but certain members of the race can be. Anything below humanity in the evolutionary scale cannot comprehend the reasoning behind wanting to be outcast for this "evil": therefore, Humanity itself cannot be "stupid" or "evil" - but humans may be more stupid or evil than anything else purely due to the fact they can understand how "stupid" or "evil" they are being.

It's sort of like Polar Bears saying that they're the whitest and coldest of all animals. Whether it may (or may not) be true, it's only really relevant to them.

 

[Kinguendo]

*Looks at own screen name*

... I'd say stupid.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

Evil is something invented, we created it to try and justify to ourselves the inherent barbarisms of our nature. Humans kill, rape, steal, and so on and so forth because it is what we do, it is what we've done since our beginnings and it will not go away. Granted, there are things that shape a person's nature, but all these things have been around for centuries, simply because they are part of our nature as well. Violence begetting violence. As for the question of whether we are stupid or evil, i say stupid, simply because human beings cannot even come to terms with their very nature, and thusly cannot overcome it. We are so far from becoming the race we are destined to become. I say destined because of evolution, if our race were to survive into the far future, i believe we would eventually become completely different beings in terms of mentality and to a lesser extent physical features. But we cannot achieve that if we do not overcome our current instincts and the forces that seek to keep our race primitive. We have survived to become the masters of our planet, if we could overcome ourselves, there's no reason we couldn't conquer the physical limitations our current bodies possess, or perhaps even the immeasureable depths beyond our world.

 

[Sigel]

I think as an individual person, we have the potential of becoming brilliant and magnificent. Unfortunately, we have to rely on other humans to survive. As a people, I think we are stupid and evil. "The mob is only as intelligent as its dumbest participant" This is just my opinion though.

 

[Scarecrow38]

Neither.

 

[Hikikomori Ookami]

Less stupid, more ignorant. And less evil, more selfish. That's how I see it, anyways.

I agree, in our ignorance we just appear stupid in many circumstances.

 

[hailmagus]

Both, really. It's sad but that's really all there is to it.

It's true. There are some good people out there, and I have to remind myself of that everyday. But most people do in fact suck (shocking)

 

[Asciotes]

I wouldn't say evil, but more selfish. That's how things get done though, we'll only do things if there's something in it for us. And I think other animals are selfish as well, they just don't care because they're not intelligent enough to reflect on it. If we see our own flaws we certainly can't be stupid.

 

[Captain Pancake]

We are the smartest on the planet, but given the competition that's not saying much. the closest we've got is a chimp that can play tetris (or something to that effect). If only enough people thought like us, we might make a difference, but sadly, in the end it'll come down to the world vs china, and china is too short sighted to change it's ways, and we wouldn't survive without the massive industry of "made in china" products.

 

[Lullabye]

So you're saying that our superiority is in itself a morality, that our existence defines goodness because we have the power?

*whacks you on the bonce* No soundbites from my arguments.

Our superiority allows us to have a morality, by which we judge others. Therefore it's sort of meaningless because "lesser" (read: lower in the food chain) life-forms cannot comprehend the basis of morality we imply upon ourselves.

The statement that morality itself is a human invention is ITSELF dependent on whether you subscribe to the presence or absence of a higher being.

Nope, because morality is an artificial creation anyway as religion states the needs of the individual, rather than the many. And that means all of my subsequent statements stand up on their own, TYVM.

But you're really in agreement with me.

Oh I am, am I?

There are humans who think nothing of rape, cannibalism, bullying and infanticide (I imagine that was your point). If animals are lower creatures than us, "morality," or what we/they are willing/aren't willing to do isn't the reason. Anything animals have ever done, I bet some person has done at least once. And thought nothing of it.

You imagine wrong, and are looking at this from a very argument-centric point.

There are humans that do perpetuate the moral "wrongs" that push to exclude them from society for a number of reasons, but they are usually aware of the difference between society and outcasts. Animals that don't have the ability to comprehend social groupings have only comprehension of being outcast (and lesser animals even less than that)

Your point that "There are humans who think nothing about..." only points to the idea that there are humans that think something of these "evils", which means that Humanity is not stupid or evil, but certain members of the race can be. Anything below humanity in the evolutionary scale cannot comprehend the reasoning behind wanting to be outcast for this "evil": therefore, Humanity itself cannot be "stupid" or "evil" - but humans may be more stupid or evil than anything else purely due to the fact they can understand how "stupid" or "evil" they are being.

It's sort of like Polar Bears saying that they're the whitest and coldest of all animals. Whether it may (or may not) be true, it's only really relevant to them.

so, basically you're saying that regardless of whether we think our selves to be evil or stupid, its objectively irrelevant since it only matters to us right?
Well, if thats the case than since it only matters to us, and we are the superior beings on this planet than doesn't that make our own subjective whims and concepts the only relevant meaning on this planet(in terms of survival)?
Cause i always thought that if, say, hitler had taken over the world, we would have more or less conformed to his point of view by now. Of course there would be he odd exception(read:resistance group) but because of humanities need to feel accepted by each other our "morals" only come second place and are directly related(if not created from) our social aspect as biological creatures. am i right or am i just blowing hot air?