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The Forum > General Discussion > Selfish

Selfish

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Dear SOG,

Sometimes Germaine Greer does get it right.
I used that particular quote because I
thought it very apt. I used the quote not
because of "who" said it, but because
of "what" was said.

Dear Examinator,

Thank You for your kind words.

If I am becoming like you, then I will not
be afraid, I will be
very joyous indeed. Because you speak
only when you have something to say.
(As opposed to people who speak because
they have to say something).
Posted by Foxy, Friday, 23 July 2010 7:00:12 PM
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"Free trade would be good so long as Pelican got to dictate the terms of it?"

Well yes....everyone else is doing it thought I would join in. Seriously though I don't want to stray off-topic - my fault for throwing it in the first place.
Posted by pelican, Friday, 23 July 2010 7:36:18 PM
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Is the Human Being selfish

This basically asks a question. Which drives mankind? Is it his intellect or his biologically programmed need to survive?

There is much talk in human circles of great tolerance and love for the brotherhood of man. The talk doesn’t walk the walk though.

In reality man’s intellect is only a tool used to supply him/her with everything that a human being needs to survive. Food,shelter etc. Biological survival needs. That’s why we put such a high value on a university education because it can get us the kind of income that will provide for our biological survival needs at a high,plentiful level.

It is basic biology. All parents in nature, animal or man are biologically programmed to do whatever it takes to provide for their young, to even put themselves in danger or even to die to insure the survival of their offspring. To do this they need control of territorial resources such as the land and the water, the food and the shelter it provides.

If we are honest we will admit that we do not have much feeling for our unknown SAME race neighbour down the road, we couldn’t care really. But in an emergency we will help him and our community, because the protection of a sheltering community around us is an important biological survival tool for humans.

What we perceive as a wonderful community spirit in times of trouble is in fact a biologically programmed ultruism to enhance our individual chances of survival under the protection of the tribe.

The intellect is programmed by the biology to a very large extent. We do have some power of veto, but this will depend on the perceived threat to our well being or survival. Is the animal in the jungle who is driven by the same need to survive selfish when it takes or defends territory. The Germans took their territory back from the Jews and now the Palestinians are trying to do the same thing. Is it biology or nasty intolerance?
Posted by CHERFUL, Saturday, 24 July 2010 1:22:03 AM
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FFS people. Have we all become so cynical and antihuman that some fool comes in here and states, with not a shred of evidence mind, "Its well known that by nature human beings are selfish" and you all just agree and affirm this delusion.
Are you all admitting your own "selfishness" or is it only "other people" who have this inbuilt flaw?
What about the massive evidence that humans are not by nature selfish? The care we give our families, love, friendship, aged care and all we do to protect ourselves be it medicine, risk management, security, defense. Our altruism, charity, the help we give when there is a disaster. The cooperation we show in so much of our lives whether it be simple courteousness or giving someone a hand, letting a car in at the lights, visiting someone in hospital, going to a wedding or funeral. I could go on forever.
I expect this from zealots like runner and algoreidiot with their ideology of eliteness and hatred of the heathen, but the rest of you should know better. Humans are not hard wired to be selfish and greedy they become that way by being exploited, impoverished, powerless and hopeless. Funnily enough they also become that way by being spoilt, pampered, wealthy and exalted.

"People are neither Rousseau’s noble savage nor the Church’s depraved sinner. They are violent when oppressed, gentle when free".
Posted by mikk, Saturday, 24 July 2010 6:43:39 AM
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On the subject of selfishness, one of whose permutations might be greed –here’s a word from the master:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upG01-XWbY
Posted by Horus, Saturday, 24 July 2010 8:21:07 AM
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Dear Javan,
I also would say that it's not that we are "selfish by nature". "Selfishness" is a moral and cultivated concept that has no place in nature, where the ruthless survival of the fittest is imperative. As cultural beings we develop sophisticated co-operative notions like unselfishness, which however we struggle to extend beyond the tribe. In the modern prosperous world, of course, tribal taboos have become national-cultural pluralism, indeed globalisation. We can no longer see the "other half's" strife and misery in a separate context to our own prosperity. Their poverty and our prosperity are interdependent; another inconvenient truth.
To the extent that we in the West do appear selfish by nature, It is more the case that our economic system is selfish in effect, and in harnessing the "natural" human drive to provide for oneself and secure the future of the clan (the profit motive drives this to obsessive pitch). Sophisticated western culture, with all its religio-ethical "sophistry", is exposed for what it is in the global context: monolithic selfishness (even while many many individuals within this monolith are driven to despair {indeed suicide} at their incapacity to opt-out).
This morning, on "Saturday Extra," I listened to "the sound of a baby dying of starvation".
Posted by Squeers, Saturday, 24 July 2010 8:45:32 AM
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