Stan Giess: Nature, Nurture and other thoughts about Utopia
Previous page | Next page | Page: 4 of 35 |
Jump to page:
Page 4
INCOMPATIBLE ATTITUDES AND INCOMPATIBLE VISIONS.
Bigotry, chauvinism, racism and prejudice exist everywhere in the world. Religions, ideologies, cultures and moral values are constantly clashing. Even mundane matters relevant only to an individual community or local government can lead to heated disputes and long running feuds. These kinds of things are fundamentally incompatible with a Utopian society. A racist that is hating someone, is not happy. The person being hated is not likely to believe that he is living a Utopian existence. How could a world with so many people like this, find a path to a Utopian society?
No two people's idea of utopia is the same. In all but a few cases I suspect that each of our ideas of paradise will be mutually incompatible. If you doubt this consider the following.
It seems likely to me that a significant percentage of the population would imagine paradise to be smoke free, no cigarettes anywhere. I imagine that there would also be a significant percentage with a very different look at that issue. They might imagine a world where the merest craving for a cigarette would cause a lit cigarette to appear between their fingers.
Some people would imagine a world without alcohol, some would imagine a great deal of alcohol and continuous parties. Some would wish for a life of quiet contemplation. Many people would want to watch or be part of, nearly continuous sporting events and competitions, while others would think that any such competitive spirit or behavior is completely the opposite of the cooperative and nurturing attitude that would be essential to paradise.
Some would dream of a world of nature. Others would see cities without end and technology beyond our imagination. What do you think about Utopia having, guns, drugs, violent entertainment, or sexually explicit entertainment? No matter what your view on those things there are many people with the opposite view.
How can Utopia be designed when there is so much disagreement about it?
LIFE IS COMPETITION
The evolutionary process of life on Earth has been going on for billions of years. The particular species that is humanity is relatively recent, but we are still creatures with a history of unceasing evolutionary pressure for the billions of years that life has existed on Earth. This is true of every living thing on Earth. This unimaginably long history of creatures competing to pass their genes to the future, means that in every way possible, competition is a factor in the design of all life. Being competitive is so thoroughly part of our nature that to even accurately imagine a noncompetitive life form may not be possible.
Being competitive in the evolutionary sense is just another way of saying the all life acts in its own self-interest. This is not always easy to see because of the complexity of the human mind. It operates on many interconnected levels and much of this is outside of access by our conscious mind.
Previous page | Next page
