Thoughts

Here are two thoughts I had during class about humanity. It's funny, some of my best thinking occurs during times when I should be paying attention to the professor. Actually, if the professor was saying something terribly relevant then I probably wouldn't have time to think about these things. Here we go:

1) The only thing that can temper the potential disasters from human discovery is a strong sense of morals; a concrete code of values and principles. We fear many scientific discoveries and breakthroughs because we humans can sense the shaky moral ground our society and culture stands on. Fear of progress and discovery comes from a fear one has in one's self and one's ability to withstand anything. Fanatic fear represents a tremendous doubt in one's own morality.

Now, one can guess what has inspired me to write these words. As I stated in a previous entry I've started reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but this thought was inspired by her non-fiction work The Virtue of Selfishness. This book has been a nice supplement while reading Atlas Shrugged. It's opened my eyes to some of the points Rand is trying to make in her book, points I might have missed otherwise. I was thinking about the scientific discoveries that seem to be immanent on the human horizon; stem cell usage, cloning, genetic mapping, etc. For some time now I've been trying to reconcile the fact that these, and other discoveries have the potential to ruin life as we know it, yet they hold important breakthroughs for our existence. We can't stop people from discovering, but these discoveries will probably be disastrous given the current psyche of humanity. I've been wondering how this situation can be fixed and it appears I found at least of piece of the answer. Paralyzing fear, a fear to act, represents low self-esteem I believe; a lack of self confidence. Many people are against scientific discoveries because they know, or fear, what humanity will do with such knowledge. Others who want to plow ahead and discover things often lack foresight into what such discoveries will mean on the human landscape. I'm concerned about what humanity will do if/when we perfect human cloning. I'm concerned because much of humanity is morally reprehensible. Our values are not set and when dealing with the unknown and the potentially dangerous you better damn well know yourself and what you stand for, otherwise you'll be consumed and/or trampled over. To know yourself is to eliminate the number of ideas and scenarios that strike fear into your heart. Yup, okay, here's thought number two:

2) It seems, more so than anything, humanity suffers from a lack of self-esteem; a disbelief in the abilities of one's potential to accomplish. We have internalized the societal propaganda that someone else knows better than we do. We defer to experts, gurus, gods, prophets, mystics, government officials, politicians, committees, advisors, and the like to inform us, guide us, teach us about our own reality and existence. This ultimately leads to them thinking for us. Our society tells us we need to listen to these people (not a terribly insidious thing) only to the point that we understand enough of what they are saying to be okay with doing what they say we should do, because they have our, or society's, best interests in mind. This type of logic is only prevalent in one other stage of humanity, childhood, yet we recognize the necessity to discard this parental philosophy as essential for growth and development into adulthood. Curious that this parental philosophy is so prevalent in modern society. I see now that selfishness is the only way to survive as human. And by selfishness I mean an unwavering belief in one's ability to know what is right.

I've amended the original thought because this says it better. Another Rand inspired rant of course, and one that somewhat echoes what I wrote in my first thought. This idea of selfishness is intriguing to me. I like it because I believe it's the only way one can be true to oneself; something I try to do at all times. I think people have a problem with being selfish because they think selfish people will constantly take advantage of others in an effort to please themselves. This isn't the case as only stupid people disregard the environment and context they live in. Only stupid people do not consider the consequences of their actions and act to please their whims. Only stupid people believe that they can and should get everything they want in the way they think they should have it. Selfishness does not imply or include these people and their stupidity. Most people say they value independence, but I think we don't realize what it takes to stand alone in one's own mind. To answer first and foremost to yourself, to think for yourself, live for yourself, and act for you interests. The interests of any individual will most likely, at some point, benefit or involve someone else. This involvement, if the person is thinking about their interests and answering to their morals, will usually not involve taking advantage of, or harming someone else. Stupid people often think they can get away with harming others, or simply don't care. The alternative to being selfish is to act for someone else's interests which is akin to being a slave.