Are we the dumbest in the Galaxy?

[YT2095]

the word is "sheeple" sheep like people.

one only needs to examine how street riots progress from a simple disturbance to notice the Sheeple effect

[IMI]

Mob mentality is a somewhat curious thing.

[Dudde]

careful what you say about mob mentality...

[IMI]

Why?

[alt_f13]

Originally posted by Loki

alt_f13 -- how do you really know that the human race is a "pile of trash"? After all, we have no other society to compar ours to. It may just be that our society is the most functional out of all of the "intelligent" life forms in the universe. Of course, we don't now, but isn't it a little pointless to accuse--or even praise--the human race when we have no idea where we actually stand in the universe?

 

That is a point; I have noting to compare it to.

 

That could be the reason I have nothing to compare it to, too.

Get my drift?

 

If all societies are as volatile as ours, how can we hope to ever find extra terrestrial intelligentce? It should probably be erradicated by the time we reach the signal, assuming they transmit through radio at the same point in their development as we are.

 

Not that I'm against seti. I have a couple thou hours on my seti@home . My hope is that aliens find us before we destroy ourselves.

 

Assume, however, that ET is as advanced in their phyiological evolution as we are, compared to chimps. But these chimps have nukes. I for one would not go anywhere near a monkey with an A-Bomb.

[atinymonkey]

IMI said in post #29 :

Why?

 

 

Because we will take a group decision to hunt you down and burn you, Mhu hahahahah.

[Dudde]

precisely

[Guest Subterfuge]

I was wondering what you guys thought it was like to know you were conscious? Is ego something science can explain? What about Humility? The second you say that you are humble, you are not.

 

These are not my questions to you. I am just trying to make you think about what exactly intelligence is. Can we find something other than human that can communicate back to us?

[Dudde]

I am humble

...

 

good questions eh;) ego and humility are probably answerable by psychology or more probably by sociology (the person alone does not have an ego or humility, only people in groups do) could answer that...

 

as to what intelligence is, he is banned and hopefully will flame this board no more:D

[FatBoySr]

alt_f13 said in post #30 :

That could be the reason I have nothing to compare it to, too.

Get my drift?

 

If all societies are as volatile as ours, how can we hope to ever find extra terrestrial intelligentce?...

 

Humans are... what shall I say? Human?

Certainly I agree that we humans are infact a collective pile of trash, but please, there are some of us that pretend we're better.

We do have other species to compare it to. We're the only species on this planet that blow the living shit out of eachother. With that said, I, as a human, can provide an argumentative situation in our defense.

 

It was a week when I was driving back from Canada and witnessed a car accident. But first, let me state on the premises that althought Canadian roads suck, their drivers are much more polite (compared to those of NYC). At least they don't give you the finger while passing you right? So this car American Mercury knocks off the railing on i287 and does a flip on its side (with the driver's seat on the ground) 3 cars in front of me. Amazingly, all the cars stop while this car parks itself sideways to block up two lanes so no cars would pass. Then everyone that could see the accident quickly dispatched to save the poor old man crushed under the car, assure the railing that flew off the highway didn't crush anyone, and showed off their cellphones to 911. The point of the story is that we're a society when it matters most. Another example would be September 11th. No one was selfish, trust me, I was there.

 

We are man, we are already self declared kind of animals. We're already at the top, there is no competition. We cannot live without competition, so we compete with eachother. We've already defeated everyone on the species level, so next we move to the race lvel. Do you really think, one race wouldn't have taken over the world if they were given a chance?

 

Sure we would probably settle the moon in 5 - 10 years with peace on this planet, but that won't happen. It won't happen unless we have encountered another race, species worth our slightest need for unionizing. Ever seen Independence Day? I agree with them. As soon as a species better than us show up, we're doomed to blow the living shit out of eachother. Yes, we are a species worth a pile of trash, but you are one too.

[Dave]

Like someone said earlier, we're doing alright, but there's still a hell of a lot of room for improvement. I do agree, however, that when it comes down to it and something bad happens, we become a somewhat less selfish group of people.

[Atellus]

We cannot live without competition, so we compete with eachother. We've already defeated everyone on the species level, so next we move to the race lvel.

 

In my humble opinion, I think this is essentially correct. There is a single phrase which aptly expresses the astounding level of technological advancement that took place in a very short time during the second world war.

 

"Necessity is the mother of invention"

 

A world population at peace is, in the absence of an outside competitor, not only impossible but deeply undersirable as we will have seen the end of invention and will witness the stagnation of culture. Granted, there will be a slow, steady slog to improve in areas such as health care, but even that will be difficult in the absence of the motivation provided by commercial concerns in the pharmaceuticals industry.*

 

The best example we have from history is probably the Cold War, in which the Eastern and Western blocs faced off on the brink of self inspired armaggedon, followed by WWII again, in which the Allies came together in a common cause to win a global conflict and ensure their own continued survival as autonomous states. In both instances, despite the over-whelming pressure of competing with a powerful outside force, and despite the very great efforts of co-operation at all levels, at all levels there was well documented intrigue, political manoeuvring and scandal revovling around each member of these alliances seeking advantage, power and influence over his fellow allies. So, even if we did encounter a powerful alien competitor, around the threat of which we were able to unify the planets population, we would still compete with each other behind closed doors for the simple goal of being the biggest fish in this very small pond.

 

It's a problem which plagues European Union decision making at the state level: everyone is anxious to remain the big fish in their individual small ponds, and is terrified of becoming a normal sized fish in an even bigger pond.

 

 

*(I am making the assumption that in order to be happy and at peace, we will need to find a different economic model, because empiral observations suggest that the free market economy is a source of unhappiness for most of the population most of the time. Additionally, in the case of pharmaceuticals, you will never make Africa a happy continent until they can all afford the drugs, which means either giving them away or revoking patent rights.)