Comment on A daunting realization
jdf038@mander.xyz 5 days agoIt’s also a very Buddhist outlook. Not because of anything specifically antihuman or pro ecology but simply because we as humans are part of a cycle that lives and dies. We don’t have a say.
You could say our karma is that we will be too proud and be too exceptionalist and end it all earlier than expected because we couldn’t come together and take care of the earth.
It sucks but the earth will go on for a few more billion years without us.
Dogsoftulkas@lemm.ee 5 days ago
Oh yeah, I believe nature, the planet, will carry on, we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot. I just feel for the part of it that won’t survive our stay.
Sometimes I make this joke about all currently living higher primates, including us, sitting at a table, and we are yeeting our way around the room, and the other primates look at eachother and go "wait, that’s the sapient one?? :D
I think we as a species took a very nasty turn in our evolution, either biological or social, that allowed us to “break away” from nature, so to speak, and create that duality Man/ Nature that in my opinion really didn’t work that well. I’m pretty sure other animals have a consciousness too, so probably being conscious and self aware is by itself not the culprit. But something makes us feel so far removed from the rest of life that I find really unsetling, and it also only makes dealing with being that much more complicated, for example, not being able to accept death like you said. In that aspect, some religions are definitely better than others to mitigate that damage. Either way, I’m just here doing my best and hoping for the best!
jdf038@mander.xyz 5 days ago
Lol the sapient one is hilarious. Especially when our ancestors probably murdered and bred out of existence other sapient species.
Part of me wonders if that turn you mentioned is our industrial revolution, invention of agriculture, or whatever set us apart from other sapient species.
Some cultures and Indigenous belief systems accept death and the process of not being an immortal to be expected while ironically the Abhramic faiths that have a huge aversion to idolatry tend to want to follow in the steps of their God by living forever and exerting control over all things.
It’s fascinating to me to explore this but while I’d love for us to explore the cosmos like Carl Sagan implored us to do, it’s also so frustrating we can’t get past our initial hangups.
Dogsoftulkas@lemm.ee 5 days ago
Yeah, I feel that. It’s like part of me thinks there could’ve been another way to get to where we are, and go beyond. Sometimes I feel literal awe about our species ingenuity, hell, cerebral organoids??, but other part kind of yearns for a simpler, more natural, somehow healthier, more respectful and fulfilling, way of living and interacting with our surroundings (and ourselves!). But yeah, those moments in our history you mention certainly didn’t work in favour of a greater togetherness with nature. Maybe it was something deeper. Maybe not, dunno, but either way, sometimes I feel “intelligence” as we describe it especially in relation to our species is a kind of an evolutionary dead end that was useful but eventually exhausts it’s usefulness and starts working to our detriment. Having in mind the cost each leap or advancement has in the environment, in the ecosystems, sometimes I feel tempted to think it was nothing but a mistake, taking in consideration the planet and all it’s life including us as a whole deeply connected system.