We have many such societies presently taking shape right here in the USA, at least if you’re the right kind of member of society. We’re not quite at no rules at all, but that’s the direction we’re heading. Ask anyone who has moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue a life of drug use how many rules they are held to.
Ask a Chicago psychopath how likely he is to be caught for committing murder, let alone any lesser offense.
Ask your average BLM rioter what sort of consequences they faced while being encouraged by Kamala Harris and her ilk.
That wasn’t really what I was trying to say. He seemed to be against the idea that humans are inherently messed up and need laws (I’m really simplifying what he said, and hopefully not misunderstanding him), and I was just saying I think they do need laws, that’s why all societies have created laws. Your examples of Portland stoners and Chicago gangsters not facing consequences and therefore doing more bad things seems to agree with my point.
Yeah, I felt the same when I first saw a homeless person as a child. My belief that humans are inherently sinful does not mean that I don’t think we can have good tendencies or to be more disposed to certain good traits (such as compassion or sympathy) than others, but that we will still often turn to “sin.”
EDIT: If anyone has read Augustine’s Confessions, I largely agree with his points of view. I’m not as eloquent as he is.
Yep, that’s what I was getting at. The rules are there for good reasons. It seems to require years of post-graduate study to move past the basic idea of behavioral standards that are self-evident not just to humans, but to all mammals.
Those years of post-graduate study in social sciences and levels of wealth incomprehensible to a hunter-gatherer allow modern humans to transcend the notion of behavioral standards and evolve into a society where you can shoot up on the street in plain view of children.
First time I went to NYC, I was upset seeing all the homeless people.
Second time I visited, I was there with salami and cheese sandwiches. I handed out three of them and of course my mother being my mother took pictures . My Dad said he was proud of me.
Okay I can see where you going, but I think the fat kid thing is more of an upbringing. People aren’t born fat (well they kind of are lmao cause babies are fat)
I have heard that anxiety can be genetic, so an anxious parent would pass that down to their kid.
I have heard arguments as to ‘fat’ being a genetic thing too. In reality, I think it is poor eating habits of the parents being placed on the kids. Inactive parents will raise inactive kids.
I think anxious behavior begets anxious behavior, and it’s worse when the source of stability (parents) are anxious, as it will affect the kids whom are expecting stability from them. When your source of stability is an emotional wreck, what do you think happens to you during your developmental stages in life?
I think parental behavior and values has a very large influence on the outcome of the child. You could look into social outcome trends of men raised in single mother homes and see this to be the case (in multitude). Too large of a data set to ignore for me.
“Genetic : Multiple research studies have shown that family members of those with impulse control disorders are at a higher risk for developing one of these disorders themselves. This indicates that impulse control disorders have a strong genetic component.”
I have a similar story about the last time I was in NYC!
I was using the subway, and accidentally took the wrong train
I wound up in what seemed like a fairly bad neighbourhood. This crackhead woman came up to me, she was fidgeting and talking very fast
“Yooo-yyooouu got any change?”
I was very uncomfortable
“No”
“Are you sure? Can’t even spare a dollah?”
I had five bucks in my pocket, and I gave her the five bucks so she would go away
She said something along the lines of
“Thank you so much. You look good… you looking real good!”
I usually feel scared/intimidated when people on meth or crack ask me for money. I also feel some degree of sympathy, but my flight or fight instincts kick in… my heart rate shoots up… and I think “oh shit… what if I say no and they get angry… I don’t want to fight, and who knows what someone resorting to begging on the street is capable of”.
Perhaps it’s prejudice on my part. But how am I supposed to react when someone visibly tweaking out asks me for money? If someone who is nodding off asks me for money I feel way more comfortable saying no as I can easily walk away. They’re like one step away from falling over themselves.
I feel sympathy, but I’m a broke college student. It’s not my bullet to bite.
Now Australia is starting to harbour many of these subtypes. Every day on my way to uni when I’m stopped at traffic lights on a certain intersection some guy on meth (visibly tweaking) will wash my windscreen/others windscreen and ask for money.
I usually make sure I have a few coins, because I am intimidated by methamphetamine users. The surge of catecholamine use mediated by the drug followed by days without sleep can lead to psychosis and inhumane strength.
I’ve seen a video of an Australian guy on meth punching a car window until it shatters in effort to get ahold of the driver.
I’ve offered to buy some food. The homeless people who accept my offers for food are typically the homeless people that are probably more likely to be down on their luck. Some homeless people have told me they don’t want food, they want money.
I could understand if you were looking for money to find a motel and spend a night sleeping in a bed. But I am suspicious when you have a sign up saying you are hungry… but you refuse my offer to buy you lunch?
I think acting socially is human nature. People that act how society likes (are popular) have a good track record of passing down their genetics, as well as securing resources needed to live. I think these traits are somewhat genetic and somewhat learned.
However, acting socially isn’t the only way to secure resources. Anti-social behavior can be a path and perhaps an easier path for some to resources (and with that comes allies (I am hesitant to say friends), and potential mates).
The need to secure resources is high on the priority list for us. We will do all sorts of anti-social things if resources are low enough. Some people are willing to do these things as a last resort, some are willing to do it to gain excess wealth / status. Genetics and learned behavior separate the former and the latter.
To expand on this, there’s the notion that so long as a boy is nourished (gets breakfast at school) and has a splendid environment, he too can be anything wants, regardless of his intellectual makeup, his logic, his problem-solving and logical ability, recall and memory, and so on.
It has nothing to do with his genes according to this line of blank-slate thought.
“Anyone can be a physicist/surgeon/financier/engineer/etc. so long as they put the work in.”
. My Dad said he was proud of me.