How can Humans be Psychologically Dysfunctional but Microbiologically Advanced?

[bmcnicho]

If you’ve ever learned about the complex multi-step process of protein folding, it’s pretty incredible!  Think about all the chemical reactions happening in trillions of cells all at once: cell division, muscle fibers twitching at the molecular level all in sync, hundreds of enzymes each specifically shaped, etc.  It’s an unfathomable amount of intelligence and complexity!

Add to that in humans the structure of the brain with billions of neurons connected by trillions of synapses.

...And then all this comes together to form a flat-Earther.  And then a group of these people come together to create a Qanon conspiracy cesspool on 4chan.  
 

My mind is struggling to understand the seeming contradiction here, how we can be perfectly calibrated and structured at the cellular level, but fail in the most basic ways as individuals and as a society.

Does anyone have ideas about this?

Edited September 7, 2021 by bmcnicho

[Carl-Richard]

The amount of intelligence that goes into creating a flat-earther should floor you. To create a living creature that is able to engage in self-deception requires immense complexity. There is no contradiction there. Self-deception is also a key feature of survival. Your mind is constructed to take shortcuts and make assumptions about its environment, because information processing is a costly activity. Your mind only experiences what it needs in order to survive. Survival is not a truth-seeking activity. It's the game of maintaining a bias.

[bmcnicho]

@Carl-Richard The point about the cost of information processing is one I forget to give enough weight.  I think that the cost of lacking an accurate perception of reality would be greater, especially in the case of large societal issues such as climate change.  Maybe that will end up being the case, but our evolutionary mechanisms are primarily geared toward things with personal stakes and short time horizons.  
 

Maybe if I had all the information it would make sense to me why humans need to have the shortcomings we do, it just seems like a huge waste of potential

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, bmcnicho said:

@Carl-Richard The point about the cost of information processing is one I forget to give enough weight.  I think that the cost of lacking an accurate perception of reality would be greater, especially in the case of large societal issues such as climate change.  Maybe that will end up being the case, but our evolutionary mechanisms are primarily geared toward things with personal stakes and short time horizons.  
 

Maybe if I had all the information it would make sense to me why humans need to have the shortcomings we do, it just seems like a huge waste of potential

That's the thing with evolution and development: it's a progressive climb of trial-and-error by selfish entities. For a developed person, when looking back at his own growth in retrospect, it's natural to think "what a waste", but the benefits of a gradual process is that it produces a relatively stable product. An organism that evolved legs will predictably walk on land, and a person who's childhood development occured within a progressive society will predictably show progressive tendencies. On the other hand, if you try to give a software upgrade that is incompatible with the hardware (like giving democracy to Afghanistan or non-duality to pre-rational sheep herders), the program will either shut down or produce a corrupted file . So while our current shortcomings and stubbornness may seem like a waste of potential, they're nevertheless a necessary part of growth.

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, bmcnicho said:

If you’ve ever learned about the complex multi-step process of protein folding, it’s pretty incredible!  Think about all the chemical reactions happening in trillions of cells all at once: cell division, muscle fibers twitching at the molecular level all in sync, hundreds of enzymes each specifically shaped, etc.  It’s an unfathomable amount of intelligence and complexity!

Add to that in humans the structure of the brain with billions of neurons connected by trillions of synapses.

...And then all this comes together to form a flat-Earther.  And then a group of these people come together to create a Qanon conspiracy cesspool on 4chan.  
 

My mind is struggling to understand the seeming contradiction here, how we can be perfectly calibrated and structured at the cellular level, but fail in the most basic ways as individuals and as a society.

Does anyone have ideas about this?

That's easy to explain.

Selflessness created the organism. Which is then run by selfishness.

This is the difference between God's designs and the ego's designs.

A rocket ship could be perfectly designed by a genius. But then you put a selfish fool in charge of piloting it and it will turn into an ugly disaster. Where ego is found, ugliness soon follows.

[Ghost]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

That's easy to explain.

Selflessness created the organism. Which is then run by selfishness.

This is the difference between God's designs and the ego's designs.

A rocket ship could be perfectly designed by a genius. But then you put a selfish fool in charge of piloting it and it will turn into an ugly disaster. Where ego is found, ugliness soon follows.

Yes.

Isn't the ego God's design too?

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Yes.

Isn't the ego God's design too?

That's the paradox of it.

When God gives a portion of its will and autonomy to something finite, that finite thing behaves in foolish ways.

It's like asking, if Albert Einstein was so smart how come his kids weren't as smart as him?

[JosephKnecht]

33 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Selflessness created the organism. Which is then run by selfishness.

This is the difference between God's designs and the ego's designs.

A rocket ship could be perfectly designed by a genius. But then you put a selfish fool in charge of piloting it and it will turn into an ugly disaster. Where ego is found, ugliness soon follows.

More conscious people tend to be more selfless.

Selfless people tend to surrender to the way reality is. 

Is it a surprise that the world is run by low-conscious selfish people while the high-conscious selfless people are meditating in a cave somewhere? 

At what point selflessness transforms into selfishness? 

[Leo Gura]

57 minutes ago, JosephKnecht said:

Is it a surprise that the world is run by low-conscious selfish people while the high-conscious selfless people are meditating in a cave somewhere? 

The most selfless people were killed 10,000 years ago. We are all the descendants of the most selfish, greedy, horny, ruthless, manipulative, narcissistic, and delusional fucks who walked this Earth.

That about explains all our problems. Ta-daaa!

[ROOBIO]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

The most selfless people were killed 10,000 years ago. We are all the descendants of the most selfish, greedy, horny, ruthless, manipulative, narcissistic, and delusional fucks who walked this Earth.

That about explains all our problems. Ta-daaa!

How the fuck do you know thats true

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, ROOBIO said:

How the fuck do you know thats true

If we take the "10,000 years ago" literally, that was the beginning of the agricultural revolution, which lead to the fall of sub- dunbar number tribal societies and female nature religions, and the rise of empires and male power religions. Crops and farm animals act as a lever on the food supply, effectively freeing up labor, lending it to technological advancement, territorial expansion, and tribal warfare. If there ever was a time where selflessness took a hit, it was during the transition from archaic collectivism to imperial individualism.

[gettoefl]

4 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

The most selfless people were killed 10,000 years ago. We are all the descendants of the most selfish, greedy, horny, ruthless, manipulative, narcissistic, and delusional fucks who walked this Earth.

That about explains all our problems. Ta-daaa!

survival of the fiercest

fittest is the so called truth of science

[gettoefl]

5 hours ago, JosephKnecht said:

 

At what point selflessness transforms into selfishness? 

selflessness is on a upward trajectory i suggest and this is by design, god enjoying uncovering more and more of itself

when you get tired of repeating

you turn towards repairing

[Blackhawk]

13 hours ago, bmcnicho said:

...And then all this comes together to form a flat-Earther.  And then a group of these people come together to create a Qanon conspiracy cesspool on 4chan.  

And anti-vaxxers, trumpers, and swedes who are against Sweden joining Nato.

Good question.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Blackhawk

[Leo Gura]

18 hours ago, ROOBIO said:

How the fuck do you know thats true

This isn't rocket science.

Look at what happened to the dodo birds.

All of your ancestors were rapists, murderers, and thieves. Because if they weren't they would have been raped, murdered, and robbed. Like the dodos.

[diamondpenguin]

10 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

This isn't rocket science.

Look at what happened to the dodo birds.

All of your ancestors were rapists, murderers, and thieves. Because if they weren't they would have been raped, murdered, and robbed. Like the dodos.

@Leo Gura What does that mean: (thinking)AHAH! It means that we must challenge ourselves everyday even if we struggle with our anxiety. Challenge yourself everyday despite your anxiety, I will challenge myself everyday till I die despite my burdening anxiety. Yes, that is the meaning! 

[hamedsf]

I found your thread, just a bit brown-nosing! 

[soos_mite_ah]

Simple. Survival is supposed to keep you alive, not make you happy and fulfilled. 

[Raze]

On 9/7/2021 at 0:27 AM, bmcnicho said:

If you’ve ever learned about the complex multi-step process of protein folding, it’s pretty incredible!  Think about all the chemical reactions happening in trillions of cells all at once: cell division, muscle fibers twitching at the molecular level all in sync, hundreds of enzymes each specifically shaped, etc.  It’s an unfathomable amount of intelligence and complexity!

Add to that in humans the structure of the brain with billions of neurons connected by trillions of synapses.

...And then all this comes together to form a flat-Earther.  And then a group of these people come together to create a Qanon conspiracy cesspool on 4chan.  
 

My mind is struggling to understand the seeming contradiction here, how we can be perfectly calibrated and structured at the cellular level, but fail in the most basic ways as individuals and as a society.

Does anyone have ideas about this?

Why is understanding the world is round a sign of functionality? The only thing evolution cares about is spreading genes.