Disgust and pity. Sometimes I can't stand looking at these dumb primates. Like when you watch your dad dance at a wedding and wish you weren't related. Can I get a divorce from the human race? Sometime I feel like I'm not human. We look alike but that's about it. I'm an evolutionary offshoot, something different but not necessarily better. A step sideways at best.
And then there's pity. Think of the children! I do. Can't stand the little bastards, wouldn't want to own one, but what a world we're giving the poor little fuckers! Man hands down misery to man, it deepens like a coastal shelf. Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever. Misery is one of the few emotions I can understand. The cause of human misery is other humans.

That is actually a George Orwell quote from 1984, I recognized it immediately. In full:
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."

It is probably the shortest and best summation of human history and its future prospects in a single sentence.

I like humans, all in all.

Oh, we have our flaws, our little slips... our weird and silly faiths from our built-in tendency to magical thinking, our fearful and irrational habit of neo-ludditism, our persistent belief that we're somehow special, our persistent belief in the fictions of destiny, spiritual morality, a greater purpose.

But I understand these flaws, and forgive them. They're our reactions to change and complexity... the former pregnant with the potential for danger, taught by unforgiving natural selection, the latter simply bewildering and disorienting. We create these little magical shields to pretend that we're somehow more than a few chemical reactions clinging to a tiny rock wobbling about in the ass end of a huge amount of empty space.

Actually, I think it's partly why I like humans. I'm fascinated by these little stories we tell ourselves, I adore their little quirks and odd contrivances, and the little eddies of circular logic we run around, like hamsters in a wheel, to convince ourselves that they're somehow 'real'.

I get angry, sometimes, at how seriously we take them, and how we use them as excuses to hurt each other, one way or another... but I understand that too. They're the floating driftwood we cling to, and we're terrified that someone might take it away. I just wish we'd learn to swim a little quicker.

Everything we do, everything boils down to keeping the rain out, not getting killed and eaten, filling our own bellies and finding someone to screw, and that's good too... we are the product of our past and our environment, and this gives us a purpose, a motivation. I don't mean in a philosophical sense, I mean in a very real this-is-why-we-get-out-of-bed sense. Without that, without our slavery to the gene, we are... nothing. A lump of decaying matter, loosely bound together with faltering energies.

And that's where the real magic of humanity comes in. This little, tiny illusion of consciousness, sitting on the top of our desires and needs, expensive for the bag of meat carrying us around, but still amazingly powerful and change-inducing. And birthed from it, the real source of our worth, the meme... the tiny virtual gene we've manifested, the travelling node of true power that we've unleashed, like a maddened Pandora, giggling maniacally as she hacks at the clasp.

Humanity's past was sad. Humanity's present is precarious, always on the point of sliding back into the mud. Humanity's future is glorious, and, I like to think, inevitable.

I really like that poem. I guess it's because I tend to find beauty where man is removed from the frame.



I found it funny because that's exactly what I intended to do when I saw the topic title.

I hate humanity. Most are just a bunch of assholes that will use you and fuck you over given the chance. It's the nature of the beast..

I have no use for people, never feel lonely without em' and I cringe at the thought of dealing with shitty bi-peds...Arghhhhh....

Humanity is definitely an amazing thing, whether it's good or bad is a tough question to answer though honestly. When we are discussing something so broad and dynamic, it's hard to apply a moralistic judgement or interpretation of something that encompasses so many things. Without rambling too long or going on some pretentious rant, I believe this Earth and everything on it is truly magnificent. After learning a little more about astronomy, I really gained a new-found appreciation of our planet and it's rare existence. Also it's chaotic harmony amazes me, how everything just exists in such chaos yet harmoniously supports each other at the same time. Regarding Humanity specifically, I've come to accept its dualistic nature of good and bad. So while there may be many bad people, there are still a lot of good individuals out there.

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure. "
- Agent Smith

i even forgot i made this thread, and also, i don't even remember posting it in general .

Aconcit: I don't remember much about the Matrix but what Smith said in there, as far as i remember it could perfectly apply to him, hell, it would be even more applicable to the machines than humans since i don't recall seeing them use conscious self aware beings as batteries. Smith just conveniently left out that part during the torture to break morpheus's will, it doesn't even mean he completely believes that or doesn't think there are logical flaws with that accusation .



oh Aconcit.

Well I have to admit that I've never seen the Matrix nor did I know that the quote belonged to it. I just saw the quote and identified with the speaker. It made me think of an alien species observing earth unleashing judgement and how all other species adapt, while we consume.

You know, something i've been thinking a little about... That consumption thing, i think it is inherent to lifeforms, specially intelligent or organized lifeforms, i mean, you need resources to live, you need to alter or consume them, of course there are degrees of consumption but... .

And by the way i admit i'm a bit surprised that you never saw the Matrix.

All species need to consume, but like the quote says those species adapt to their surroundings as opposed to drilling, destroying land, and using those resources to destroy more land. Humans engage in a completely different type of consuming. Once we have a means to survive covered, we then focus on changing variables around us to ensure our pleasure. And it's that pleasure that creates the want to expand , to buy stupid shit so we can reflect it upon ourselves as our status and character, and lastly it powers that want to destroy each other.
Maybe I'd be more accepting of it if there was an equalizer. Like if there were monsters roaming the planet destroying the cities they came across.I think humans are too over-powered.

Of course I say this while being the same thing that I'm criticizing.

And I'm not sure why I've never watched the matrix. I remember when it came out my parents said I'd probably be confused by it, but now that I'm older I should watch it.

This. That's the beef I have with "modern day man."

We don't adapt to our surroundings and take what we need to live; we actively change the landscape. We wipe out other species and their food in order to make way for more humans and more farmland to cultivate human food. We change our environment to suit our wants.

In doing so, we're destroying the very things that sustain us and that have allowed us to exist. Can't be leading to anything good if you ask me...

I've thought about these things too much and they depress me, so I try not to ruminate on them any more.

Aconcit - definitely watch The Matrix That is a great quote and I totally agree with it. Agent Smith rocks. Eventually, we will tip the scales too far and nature will whup our arse.

Yeah really, there's a planet that by chance is the right distance from the sun, and holds the correct elements to sustain life which resides in the middle of a big giant lifeless space for who knows how far and people see this as chance for exploitation to fill their short lives with personal satisfaction.

What's irritating is the expansion of industries that don't need to exist that make products which if they didn't exist, we wouldn't even be able to conceive in our minds because they are that insignificant to our needs of survival.



Yeah or we'll do ourselves in. I'll try and find the Matrix, it should be pretty easy.

Well, first of all i want to say that you have a very good point there, and a really good one, all i can think about at the moment is that, maybe intelligent species tend to be more high maintenance? If the mammals can develop a natural equilibrium with the environment is because they are willing (well, not exactly since they're not self-conscious) to accept all of the bullshit from the environment. I think a good parallel of this are the Guarani Indians, a lot of the tribes sort of live with the land (And occasionally battle with other tribes) but there are a lot of very important things they don't have in exchange of that. Hospitals, Art centers, etc. Being an example, i frankly wouldn't like a tribal life attuned with the environment, at least not the environment as i know it. On the pleasure thing i think it's a double edged thing, on one part pleasure can mean "happiness" to me, i like laying on my bed while hearing classical music, but with that part i think you meant some pseudo-gansta white asshole who just bought a super-expensive car to tell everyone just how much money does he have. And while i also think this hypothethical hedonist is a waste, my ideas of success, happiness and life are not unique (in a way now i'm thinking a bit of Fraktale with that last thing ) But yeah, i think humanity or civilization needs to exercise some awareness of what their IKEA lifestyle does to the planet, and specially, to other less fortunate people. I sort of agree with you in that humans are a bit too over-powered, but i don't think having a Godzilla squad would be the best solution .



I don't understand.

I think we live far beyond our required level of maintenance and if most of the things we enjoy didn't exist we would find something else to enjoy. Something about the constant need to entertain our bored little minds has come off as a weakness rather than a strength.
By people who use pleasure as a motivator, you could easily include the people who buy luxurious items to justify their existence, but it's not excluded to that. Pleasure has been used many times as a reason to go to war such as imperialism, the want to use new weapon technology, and the want to improve our living conditions. Pleasure is a motivator for companies opening up sweatshops in foreign countries because they don't have to pay the workers as much money. Pleasure and happiness can be nice, but I think we'd have it to the same extent if we weren't always increasing our standards and wanting more and more and fucking more.
I was sort of joking about the giant monsters, but if they did exist they wouldn't be a solution, they'd just be something that prevents humans from growing like ivy. It would be as if we have a superior on the food chain. And what exactly entitles humans to be happy and on the top of the ladder? Because we have emotions, intelligence, and our fragile little hearts and minds can't take the thought of disaster? Because we were made the most important species on Earth? What about all the damage we cause to the other entities of our planet? What about all the hypothetical damage we'd cause to another life sustaining planet if we had our chance to get our grubby hands on it.

Also I mean I'm part of what I criticize because I consume and buy stupid products that don't matter.

This sounds like Freud.

It doesn't sound like Freud at all. I read three of his books when I was younger and before I knew any better than to waste my time with him. Freud was at heart a conservative and all the nascent patterns of compensation he saw in his patients that allowed them to cope with living in a capitalist society he attributed to hidden inner forces that needed be talked out, remediated, not to the social factors that caused him.

Humanity? Well, we all are fucked up. Greed, corruption, banks bailed-out, etc. you name it.

Everything/the system is collapsing and I can't wait for the total collapse.

I realized that after seeing Venus Project and Zeitgeist.

Nearly all the answers are too optimistic in my eyes,
If by chance, another strange and random "human" had the chance to stand and comment their honest thoughts about you, I believe all of the answers would change, only a strong few would be the same.
Humans and people are mostly, fucking stupid. You know how embarrassing it is to fight over controversial topics, you can't. Because someone else disagrees with you. Because fist fly when you tell them wrong. And the such. I really cant with this thread and responses. -__-

I don't like society or humanity. I gotta give it a big thumbs down,,,,,,,,,,,