Human History in 6 words

[cynikles]

The omniprescense of a lord's disciples.

Religion seems to play a pretty big role in human history...

 

[Saulkar]

We are so totally fucking screwed.

There is my six cense,

 

[zombiestrangler]

Fuck those assholes, what about me?!
Does that count?

 

[ultrachicken]

I think people measure how great their religion is based on whether or not they think it's actually correct.

It's not only the "nastiest" that survive. Plenty of civilians haven't owned slaves, or committed mass genocide, etc. It's just the ones that do get the most attention.

Please, stop with the "humans are such jerks!" threads.

Imagine you're a farmer in 16th century France, you've got just enough food stored away so that you and your family might eat for the winter; along comes a family of refugees, they beg you for food and shelter, do you a) help them and put your own family at risk of starving during winter or b) turn them away knowing full well they'll likely starve?

Using today's morality turning them away is a wrong act, but the very fact we were born means that our ancestors made these sort of choices and chose themselves.

Humans are jerks, it's hard-wired into us, doesn't mean we shouldn't try and over-come it, but it's not something we should be ignorant about either.

Why is that a jerk act?
It helps no one if both families starve. I see that choice as either: you survive, they die, or: you die, they die.

I'm not denying that bad shit happens, but we've also got goodness hardwired into us. Being ignorant to that can be just as dangerous as being ignorant to the bad stuff in humans.

Okay since you didn't get it, how about a clearer cut one, two men are taken into a dark room, one is given a choice if he says yes there is a 50% chance he and the other man will be killed, if he says no he will live and the other man will die; our ancestors made choices that boiled down to that all the time, help someone and run the risk of suffering for it, or don't help and stay safe; the people that stayed safe will likely have lived long enough to pass on their genes.

As for good hard-wired into us... err what good? the only thing I can see is the willingness to adopt codes of conduct in order to stay in a group for better protection, the willingness to suffer for our offspring, and that's about all I can see as "good" in human nature, everything else do that could be considered "good" today is against our nature.

We care about people close to us, just not every single stranger we see on the street. To do so would drive a man insane. We do, in fact, care about ourselves the most, but that's because the one person we know best is ourselves.

Every time you see a homeless man on the street, do you buy him a home, and feed him, and take care of him until you die because if you don't no-one else will? No. There are simply too many people in need for you to take care of.

So, just because humans don't potentially sacrifice their lives for strangers doesn't mean they are total assholes. We all do what we have to, but there are people who do bad things just because they can.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Fucking fuckers fucking other fucking fuckers.

Yep, I think that is pretty self-explanatory.

 

[tkioz]

I think people measure how great their religion is based on whether or not they think it's actually correct.

It's not only the "nastiest" that survive. Plenty of civilians haven't owned slaves, or committed mass genocide, etc. It's just the ones that do get the most attention.

Please, stop with the "humans are such jerks!" threads.

Imagine you're a farmer in 16th century France, you've got just enough food stored away so that you and your family might eat for the winter; along comes a family of refugees, they beg you for food and shelter, do you a) help them and put your own family at risk of starving during winter or b) turn them away knowing full well they'll likely starve?

Using today's morality turning them away is a wrong act, but the very fact we were born means that our ancestors made these sort of choices and chose themselves.

Humans are jerks, it's hard-wired into us, doesn't mean we shouldn't try and over-come it, but it's not something we should be ignorant about either.

Why is that a jerk act?
It helps no one if both families starve. I see that choice as either: you survive, they die, or: you die, they die.

I'm not denying that bad shit happens, but we've also got goodness hardwired into us. Being ignorant to that can be just as dangerous as being ignorant to the bad stuff in humans.

Okay since you didn't get it, how about a clearer cut one, two men are taken into a dark room, one is given a choice if he says yes there is a 50% chance he and the other man will be killed, if he says no he will live and the other man will die; our ancestors made choices that boiled down to that all the time, help someone and run the risk of suffering for it, or don't help and stay safe; the people that stayed safe will likely have lived long enough to pass on their genes.

As for good hard-wired into us... err what good? the only thing I can see is the willingness to adopt codes of conduct in order to stay in a group for better protection, the willingness to suffer for our offspring, and that's about all I can see as "good" in human nature, everything else do that could be considered "good" today is against our nature.

We care about people close to us, just not every single stranger we see on the street. To do so would drive a man insane. We do, in fact, care about ourselves the most, but that's because the one person we know best is ourselves.

Every time you see a homeless man on the street, do you buy him a home, and feed him, and take care of him until you die because if you don't no-one else will? No. There are simply too many people in need for you to take care of.

So, just because humans don't potentially sacrifice their lives for strangers doesn't mean they are total assholes. We all do what we have to, but there are people who do bad things just because they can.

We "care" about our families because it's advantageous for us to do so, protection of numbers and all that, care for them while they are sick and they'll do the same for us, that's hard-wired into us.

The homeless on the street question is an interesting one, but you're failing to understand there is no such thing as an unselfish act, even the act of helping a homeless person has it's rewards, even if it's nothing more then a good feeling; everything a person does is motivated out of selfishness, even if running into a burning building to save someone at the cost of your own life "how could I live with myself otherwise".

Humans are selfish jerks, but there is nothing wrong with that, you've just got to admit it to yourself.

 

[somedarnguy]

'Mostly Harmless.'

 

[Griphphin]

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert:

you get no sequel.

 

[Space Spoons]

"I wonder what would happen if..."

Yeah, humanity has done some pretty repulsive things. To me, though, more than anything, humans are defined by their curiosity and capacity for learning.

 

[The_Splatterer]

"Our [blank] is bigger than yours!"

The blank of course could be Spear, Gun, Army, Land, Ship, Nuke, house...

 

[Madara XIII]

Found god, lost god........still wankers!

.......That made me smile alot!!!

TY

 

[drdamo]

"Infinite stupidity, finite resources, zero tolerance"

 

[djpobletay]

Circle of destruction and tragedy. Unfortunately that is what human history is. We as a species must learn from our past.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

"We came, we saw, we conquered." <-- My version of human history in six words.

"Scipio. Law. Wanderer. Killer. Womanizing. Me." <-- MY family history.

Scipio = Farthest ancestor fought beside him as one of his officers at Carthage.

Law = Same ancestor became a judge in Rome, giving my family power.

Wanderer = Renaissance saw my family as merchants and mercenaries.

Killer = Mafioso.

Womanizing = My father in a man-whore.

Me = Duh.

Hold up. You can actually TRACE your family back to Carthage? Like THE Carthage!? The one decimated by the Romans? The one led by Hannibal?

 

[Manicotti]

Humans: Cancer cells with opposable thumbs.

 

[ultimateownage]

We fucked their shit up.

 

[C95J]

Well, that could have gone better...

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

There is something wrong with us.

 

[Brotherofwill]

I think people measure how great their religion is based on whether or not they think it's actually correct.

It's not only the "nastiest" that survive. Plenty of civilians haven't owned slaves, or committed mass genocide, etc. It's just the ones that do get the most attention.

Please, stop with the "humans are such jerks!" threads.

Nice one. Finally someone with some sense.

My take on history?

It's Getting Better All the Time.

Yes, "it's" is one word...

 

[joshuaayt]

Life exists to destroy other life.

Apply this ideology to every and any human experience, if you will.