Humans >:(

[Firekitty]

Am I the only one who believes humans will be our own downfall? Animals Don't seem to kill each other in the thousands for the hell of it. Humans kill each other in the name of a loving GOD, they discriminate each other!
I am mad at the human race..If it's not ordinary They discriminate. How many other animals don't have self control over eating?
We (Humans) Have created a weapon that can make a place unlivable. And for the sake of territory we kill each other, now that, you CAN see in some animals. We bully each other, But maybe all of this is what makes us humans, Technology, Overkill, Overpopulation, Eating to much, We have multiple things we see in the media every day, Animals being killed in mass murders, They usually don't even get to experience life, As being a furry, This one is a hot topic, I mean killing animals to survive, That's nature at work, But overkilling them and getting five big mac's and a diet coke SERIOUSLY?? I want animals to be killed HUMANLY. that's better than now,Right?
Well anyways what are your thoughts?

[anoni]

I think if animals were as smart as humans, they would follow the same path. The reason we're so hostile and aggressive and "evil" is because we've had to be hostile, aggressive and evil in order to survive. It's in our genes, those that were not hostile were killed by animals or starved to death and they weren't able to pass on their genes. It comes down to evolutions "survival of the fittest" and the fittest are the ones that fight back and are stronger. The baggage that remained for us is still with us and that could be one explanation why we are so aggressive.

But when you think about it, we're actually not that aggressive relative to some animals. We care about empathy and we care about whether things are treated humanly, animals don't care about that stuff (through no fault of their own, it's just there minds haven't evolved enough to care about that stuff (In fact, most animal wouldn't even comprehend the idea of other things with consciousness)). We care about solving situations diplomatically, and most animals wouldn't do that but mostly solve situations through hostility (though there are some exceptions, for example the Bonobo solves social situations and conflict through sexual intercourse). Crime rates in humans has been at an all time low, we are trying to fix the environment, we are trying to improve the past wrongs of society and we [care] about other things, which most animals current do not so much.

However, this fact is mostly overlooked because we kill a lot of animals, we have wars and we've almost destroyed ourselves along with the entire earth. We've become greedy, this is a fact, humans are greedy and we eat a lot of food and we will do a lot of things to get things that we don't need. A comedian brilliantly put it as "We're all about getting stuff, we get stuff and we get stuff to put our stuff in, so we can get more stuff, but then we need more stuff to put our stuff in and so we continually get more and more stuff" (paraphrased). However, if you give a dog a meal, he will eat it, give him another meal, he will eat it until he vomits, dogs are the same in this regard of greediness. The difference is that a dog can't physically get what he wants himself, he needs people to get what he wants for him, but at the end of the day if he had the ability to get as much food, sex and whatever else he wanted, he'd get plenty, probably more-so than a human would get. So yes humans are greedy, but LIFE is greedy, and maybe humans aren't as greedy as some other forms of animals, we're just smart enough to get what we want.

The last thing is the nuclear bomb, doomsday weapons that threaten humanity as a whole. This is a real statistic, but before America dropped the two nuclear bombs on Japan, they were planning to invade Japans mainland. If they had invaded rather than dropped the nuclear bombs, it is generally agreed by most historians that the death-toll would of been considerably higher (as well the tokyo bombing that happened before the nuclear bomb falls killed more people than in both nuclear blasts). That's just an interesting statistic, but the concept of the nuclear bomb is, yes we've created a weapon of incredible destruction. We created it with the intent to stop war though, we created it with the intent to be a deterrent, the creators wanted to enemy to surrender, they did not want to destroy the enemy, even though at the time they probably could. Nuclear bombs are a terrible thing, but it has also given us nuclear energy, which one day will become probably the most efficient energy source we can ever make (as well as the cleanest), the same energy that fuels the sun. So we created these weapons and you won't see animals doing that, but that's because animals don't know how, it's not cause they don't want to. I'm sure given the chance they would, but yes, nuclear bombs are bad but I don't think it separates humanity between the animals.

  So what I'm saying isn't that animals are bad, or even that humans are good. I'm more trying to offer a perspective that perhaps humans aren't the worst of all.

Oh and here's an interesting quote from watchmen

"Why do we argue? Life's so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud, suspended in endless nothing."

[ST-84 Sahelanthropus]

Thank you, Anoni. I think I can agree with most of that.

Here, Fire, have a look at this video, so I don't have to type a huge anthropocentric response to counter your misanthropic views.
I encourage everyone else to watch it as well if you have similar amoral and irrational feelings about Mankind.

How To Restore Your Faith In Humanity

[WingedZephyr]

I agree with what Anoni said. Humans more or less do act the same way as animals. We fight over territory, they fight over territory. We try to find suitable mates, they try to find suitable mates. Our goal to survive makes us do nasty things for the sake of self preservation, and animals will do the same thing in the same situation. We've created tools to kill, and when animals are capable of it, they use tools to kill, too. Every creature's goal on Earth, humans included, is basically to survive, feed, drink, procreate, succeed over competitors, and thrive. And when those basic needs are met, then the creature can then expand their goals to meet wants in addition to needs. There are plenty of events when animals will kill other animals for fun. There are plenty of times when animals are killed or die off for being too weak or sick.

The difference between us and animals is that we have morals and empathy, and the extent to which we affect the world is expanded with our capabilities and size of population. Nobody wants to die. Animals don't have the luxury of creating medicines to live longer, but we do. Animals don't have any qualms about leaving weaker or unfit members of their species to die, but we do. As a whole, we're also clever and knowledgeable enough to safely take care of our own basic needs most of the time, while animals have to risk their lives for many of their meals. With medical technology and moral issues involved with allowing any single person to die, we've basically disrupted the natural order of how life is supposed to play out. It's allowed our population to explode. The unhealthy members of our species don't all get weeded out through natural selection, we've expanded way beyond our natural habitat, and that means we have a bigger impact on the Earth than we ever naturally should. Couple that with an overall lack of effort to use the world's resources in a balanced way, and we're left with a world that will not be able to support our species forever as it is.

People are really only just starting to realize how much of an impact our existence has on the Earth around us, and we're just starting to learn how to control ourselves in order to not ruin everything. We're just starting to learn how to use our empathy to make life a better place for us and the other living things around us. As individuals, some of us have more empathy than others. Some of us make selfish decisions, some of us make considerate ones. As a whole, we're not really evil, just trying to survive and thrive. We use the knowledge and technology available to us to do so. I think we could turn things around and learn to live in harmony with nature eventually, but it will take a vast amount of effort and personal sacrifices on our part, as well as better technology. It's also entirely possible we could destroy ourselves. So who knows. Time will tell.

[✡]

I'm a man of few words so this is my say: like it or not, you're human, I'm human, that's that. So I'd find it advisable to do whatever benefits the human race, seeing as you are part of the human race.