Myself included.
I just spent two hours debating my fairly radical viewpoints on humankind with The Boy (my argument has slightly evolved since I first considered it). All very civilly, of course, but it got rather heated. It is too late in the night for me to completely recount all that was discussed (although I will need to do so at some point--how many ideas were lost for want of having been written down?), but in short he argued for the humans and I argued for the entire living world. Both of us saw a bit of the other's side, and discovered ideas over the course of the discussion that we hadn't considered before.
On the whole, however, he refuses, as I expect the majority of people to do, to accept my point of view. I know it's a lot harder theory to consider than the Earth orbiting around the Sun, but the fact remains that, however flawed I know this theory still is, and how difficult it is for any human to accept (for obvious reasons), it makes sense to me.
I guess that there are just things that are beyond human comprehension, and once you get around to trying to understand the meaning of life, it gets fairly complicated.
I just spent two hours debating my fairly radical viewpoints on humankind with The Boy (my argument has slightly evolved since I first considered it). All very civilly, of course, but it got rather heated. It is too late in the night for me to completely recount all that was discussed (although I will need to do so at some point--how many ideas were lost for want of having been written down?), but in short he argued for the humans and I argued for the entire living world. Both of us saw a bit of the other's side, and discovered ideas over the course of the discussion that we hadn't considered before.
On the whole, however, he refuses, as I expect the majority of people to do, to accept my point of view. I know it's a lot harder theory to consider than the Earth orbiting around the Sun, but the fact remains that, however flawed I know this theory still is, and how difficult it is for any human to accept (for obvious reasons), it makes sense to me.
I guess that there are just things that are beyond human comprehension, and once you get around to trying to understand the meaning of life, it gets fairly complicated.
5 comments:
Yes. Trying to discuss the meaning of life, the universe and everything is great for talks long into the night so long as one doesn't actually expect to find the meaning!
I would be so bold as to suggest that the problem with your proposition is that it's not practical and, even as a theoretical concept, it has consequences which may be greater than the issues which you are attempting to solve.
But, hey, these things are there to be debated. As over 100 million humans were destroyed by Governmental action last century as a result of two world wars (72 million) and various other conflicts it looks as though you are not in a minority in holding the views that you do.
Oh, I absolutely agree. There is so much that can be discussed in theory that wouldn't actually work in real life. I just wish we'd stop being so destructive...
Yes. I'll second that. The difference is that you may be in a position one day to help influence change where I and my generation have failed.
I tend to care more about the part of the world that's not human, rather than the one that can reason and is responsible for the whole mess in the first place... I'd be more inclined to save the whales than save the humans, but I'm not sure how many people agree with me.
That's what I meant; particularly given your previously expressed views and your specialism. Sorry I didn't make it clear.
I'm afraid that I'm cynical enough to believe that humans are incapable of helping themselves as individuals or tribes (in the sociological sense) never mind humanity in general.
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