*snore*

[cybermule]

Spent the day at work doing data changes, and I think I'm going to die of boredom. Twiddled with my phone and set it up so I can be texted through LJ. Not entirely sure of the point, but it was fun anyway.

Thought of the day: are self-centred people a genetic necessity? This was the thing I forgot to post yesterday. I was pondering on the nature of the entirely self-centred. They seem to be a small proportion, but is it fixed? Obviously these people need the more generously minded to pay taxes and just work for the common good, but do the more holistic thinkers need the other people to spur them into generosity? There are different situations where people will lie, cheat or steal to get what they want, but some people do seem to be physiologically incapable of thinking of anyone but themselves.

NOTE TO SELF: I must also make efforts to stop complaining about my brother to my friends - despite being justified (think Cartman), it makes me feel like a bitch

*sigh*

Back to the world of dreams...

Comments

[quercus.livejournal.com]

are self-centred people a genetic necessity

According to the word of Our Dawkins, nothing is a genetic necessity, but some things are more useful than others. As the environment shifts, some traits gain more use-value and become preferred. In a post-Ford environment (where we're all richer for material goods than Croesus ever was) the benefits of self-interest are more directly rewarded, and the constraints of being an arse to your neighbours are no longer punished. So, we gradually evolve into Thatcherite recreational shoppers with the spiritual depth of Posh Spice.

Then a horde of drooling autists from Silicon Valley creep out of their on-line dungeons and rampage across the world, like a dysfunctional Ghengis Khan. With their new-found wealth, the village idiot now gets to breed, instead of being restricted to feeding the duckpond and developing an obsessional taxonomy of goat markings.

Fortunately the Illuminati managed to pull the plug on the dot.com boom before they really did get the chance to breed.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Hahah - good explanation. Well put, and I agree with every word of it. I guess the combination of definite wealth and relative anonymity of current Western society just makes it possible for a disproportionate number of self-centred idiots to breed an over-sized colony. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back the other way at some point in the near future...

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

That actually reminds me of a section of The Brothers Karamazov predicting that western ideals will, while promising freedom, lead people further and further into isolation and misery. Can't quite remember all the details, but it was one of the parts of the book I found eerily prescient.

[quercus.livejournal.com]

All Dostoyevsky says that all things will lead to further isolation and misery.

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Now, now - that was actually the most life-affirming novel I've ever read :D

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Life affirming in that it affirms the depressing reality of life? I find Dostoevsky rather absorbing in a gloomy kind of way. Althouhg not bad gloomy, just thoughtful gloomy :)

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Life affirming in that it affirms the depressing reality of life?

Noooo! :D (Hmmm...on second thought, perhaps ;) )

If anything, it's quite the anti-depressant viewpoint. Imho, there's a lot of really positive stuff in there about the nature of reality and about living your life, etc.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Yeah - could be. I haven't really read enough to make a definite opinion, I guess :)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Heheh - as <lj user = "aras_55555" points out, that's very life-affirming. If you're of a particularly cynical twist of character :)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

predicting that western ideals will, while promising freedom, lead people further and further into isolation and misery

I must get around to reading that book - it sounds good. And I agree, eerily prescient. People do seem to be getting more and more isolated and unhappy, and every popular solution just seesm to add to the problem.

*sighs* It's not even the big things that annoy me most of the time - there are always going to be evil people. It's the little grabby pushy things that often wind me up.

Why yes they are!

[fyatuk.livejournal.com]

The self-centered people are there to make us, as a people, revere the generous ones. Unfortunately we, as a people, are stubborn as hell and don't listen to what our own genome + whatever spirtuality one might choose are telling us and the self-centered copulate and breed with other self-centered, breeeding a stronger strain. Just as a bacteria or virus becomes stronger and more resistant to medicine, so do the self-centered become mroe resistant to the scorn and derision that is so rightfully deserved for them.

Of course there is also such a thing as "too much generosity" and those that suffer from it should seek out the self-centered to create more balanced offspring to protect the human species from being taken advantage of by the alien menace that will eventually come (yes I watch too many sci-fi movies/series).

Re: Why yes they are!

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

The self-centered people are there to make us, as a people, revere the generous ones.

Hmm. I hate to sound cynical, but as quercus pointed out abov, it's the selfish traits that seem to be revered these days. Although it could be argued that the rewards you reap from your selfish behaviour aren't really that good - I'm holding out for that option, otherwise life is rather unfair :p

Of course there is also such a thing as "too much generosity" and
those that suffer from it should seek out the self-centered

I think I see possiblity for exploitation there.