CDZ Brain power is out of control

[Olde Europe]

For me, the Eden story is not about the capacity to reason, but the implicit imposition of duality on the universe by the presence of a sentient being.

Who cares for your idiosyncratic understanding, when throughout Christian history the expulsion story was used to thunder at the herd that their capacity to reason is either a threat, or a burden, or both, and using it will bring about the herd's downfall?

 

[flacaltenn]

For me, the Eden story is not about the capacity to reason, but the implicit imposition of duality on the universe by the presence of a sentient being.

Who cares for your idiosyncratic understanding, when throughout Christian history the expulsion story was used to thunder at the herd that their capacity to reason is either a threat, or a burden, or both, and using it will bring about the herd's downfall?

You might want to read that beginning to Genesis again.. God didn't ask much of them.. Didn't limit their ability to self actualize. THey were not oppressed with a 209 yard long shelf of "federal regulations".. They just broke the contract...

 

[Olde Europe]

You might want to read that beginning to Genesis again.. God didn't ask much of them.. Didn't limit their ability to self actualize. THey were not oppressed with a 209 yard long shelf of "federal regulations".. They just broke the contract...

Yeah, just the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden to the dumb animals, and being in this state was paradise itself. But, it turned out, the thirst for knowledge was irrepressible, as the snake's capacity to reason and to con was irresistible. Ever since the church worked diligently to decry reason, knowledge, and the thirst for it, so as to create a sheeple willing to follow rules and orders, no question asked.

 

[sparky]

Methinks that snake started the church old one.....~S~

 

[there4eyeM]

You might want to read that beginning to Genesis again.. God didn't ask much of them.. Didn't limit their ability to self actualize. THey were not oppressed with a 209 yard long shelf of "federal regulations".. They just broke the contract...

Yeah, just the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden to the dumb animals, and being in this state was paradise itself. But, it turned out, the thirst for knowledge was irrepressible, as the snake's capacity to reason and to con was irresistible. Ever since the church worked diligently to decry reason, knowledge, and the thirst for it, so as to create a sheeple willing to follow rules and orders, no question asked.

You make the all-too-common mistake of abbreviating the name of the tree. It is the knowledge of "good" and "evil", not merely knowledge. That is why I spoke of duality, and why you relegated my thinking to idiosyncrasy. I am far from the only one who sees this for what it means in the deeper metaphysical sense.

 

[Olde Europe]

You make the all-too-common mistake of abbreviating the name of the tree. It is the knowledge of "good" and "evil", not merely knowledge. That is why I spoke of duality, and why you relegated my thinking to idiosyncrasy. I am far from the only one who sees this for what it means in the deeper metaphysical sense.

Look, you go with the allegedly "deeper metaphysical sense". Again, why should anyone care?

All I did was to point out the parallels between your denigration of allegedly out-of-control brain power and the way in which the expulsion story was used for centuries in the anti-intellectual Christian tradition - namely, "Thinking on your own spells doom."

 

[joaquinmiller]

For me, the Eden story is not about the capacity to reason, but the implicit imposition of duality on the universe by the presence of a sentient being.

Who cares for your idiosyncratic understanding, when throughout Christian history the expulsion story was used to thunder at the herd that their capacity to reason is either a threat, or a burden, or both, and using it will bring about the herd's downfall?

I don't give one creation myth more credence than others - all cultures have them and they are all ultimately about control. To the extent that humans' brainpower is a threat, I would suggest it's because so much of our collective brainpower is used to manipulate the emotions of others. The dichotomy isn't between 'how to think' and 'what to think', but instead it's the encouragement to feel, rather than think.

 

[harmonica]

we evolved from/as animals

 

[Olde Europe]

I don't give one creation myth more credence than others - all cultures have them and they are all ultimately about control. To the extent that humans' brainpower is a threat, I would suggest it's because so much of our collective brainpower is used to manipulate the emotions of others. The dichotomy isn't between 'how to think' and 'what to think', but instead it's the encouragement to feel, rather than think.

Good points, all, and I tend to agree, except I am in no position to compare creation myths.

I don't know whether you have ever worked your way through Richard Hofstadter's "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life", and I can by no means do the book justice. He traces back the general, often visceral distrust of, and contempt for, reason back to the (particularly evangelical) Christian tradition. That distrust and contempt, of course, open the door to what you rightly point out as the invitation to feel, or, more often, to resent.

 

[flacaltenn]

You might want to read that beginning to Genesis again.. God didn't ask much of them.. Didn't limit their ability to self actualize. THey were not oppressed with a 209 yard long shelf of "federal regulations".. They just broke the contract...

Yeah, just the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden to the dumb animals, and being in this state was paradise itself. But, it turned out, the thirst for knowledge was irrepressible, as the snake's capacity to reason and to con was irresistible. Ever since the church worked diligently to decry reason, knowledge, and the thirst for it, so as to create a sheeple willing to follow rules and orders, no question asked.

You make the all-too-common mistake of abbreviating the name of the tree. It is the knowledge of "good" and "evil", not merely knowledge. That is why I spoke of duality, and why you relegated my thinking to idiosyncrasy. I am far from the only one who sees this for what it means in the deeper metaphysical sense.

When God gives you every plant and animal for YOUR benefit and asks politely -- just don't mess with MY fruit tree -- that's somehow elevated into a symbol for remaining remaining dumb and stupid.. That's more than idiosyncratic navigation...

 

[there4eyeM]

It could be argued that the very writing of "religious" texts is an example of brain power working against itself.

 

[JimBowie1958]

This poster tends to think that the human brain may be to humans what the saber teeth were to the famous, extinct tiger. It is a biological development that has itself become an impediment to further existence.
'We' don't understand how to apply our mental capacities in order that the most consistently constructive results derive. The tendency is to seize upon whatever used to be the standard as being perpetually positive.
Tiny example: it used to be imperative to carry water with one. This led to containers, which led to one-use containers. The 'good' was having convenient hydration available. The 'thoughtless' was the evident fact that when everyone copied this, the one-use containers would be impossible to contain.
No moralizing here, just showing how things went and how they should have gone if our race had used the brain for what it is worth.
Are we doomed to continuing to use the brain in excess of our power to control ourselves, thus sooner or later eliciting extinction from the universe?

It is about to get much worse with Super AI Androids doing everything for us! No thinking required at all!

 

[JimBowie1958]

It could be argued that the very writing of "religious" texts is an example of brain power working against itself.

Yeah, because discovering that there is a moral system, that there is a Creator, and that people cannot just do the easy thing all the time have totally destroyed humanity.

Oh, wait, no it hasn't at all. It is the unreflective mindless fucktards that are destroying everything, my bad.

 

[JimBowie1958]

You make the all-too-common mistake of abbreviating the name of the tree. It is the knowledge of "good" and "evil", not merely knowledge. That is why I spoke of duality, and why you relegated my thinking to idiosyncrasy. I am far from the only one who sees this for what it means in the deeper metaphysical sense.

Contrasting the Hebrew Satan with the Roman godling 'Vulcan' is very illuminating.

 

[JimBowie1958]

NOBODY is practicing critical thinking on social media or EVEN in the "squawking head panel" version of event/news analysis.. ..

How would you do that anyway with just 64 characters?

 

[Olde Europe]

When God gives you every plant and animal for YOUR benefit and asks politely -- just don't mess with MY fruit tree -- that's somehow elevated into a symbol for remaining remaining dumb and stupid.. That's more than idiosyncratic navigation...

You actually think the "Tree of Knowledge" is best understood to be a fruit tree?

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

This poster tends to think that the human brain may be to humans what the saber teeth were to the famous, extinct tiger. It is a biological development that has itself become an impediment to further existence.

Had the statement above, which you opened your premise with been true, then you wouldn't have had the intelligence to even propose this hypothesis.

This does not logical follow. The mentioned tigers as individuals lived and used their teeth, but in the long run the physical presence of the teeth proved disadvantageous to survival.
It isn't that humans don't have enough intelligence, it is that they have too much for their own good, given their demonstrated inability to constructively use it.

in a way we're our own worst enemy like a natural cycle almost
create destroy
enlighten dark age


Oh we're heading right for a dark age

 

[sparky]

How would you do that anyway with just 64 characters?

Then 43 is better?

~S~

 

[there4eyeM]

This poster tends to think that the human brain may be to humans what the saber teeth were to the famous, extinct tiger. It is a biological development that has itself become an impediment to further existence.
'We' don't understand how to apply our mental capacities in order that the most consistently constructive results derive. The tendency is to seize upon whatever used to be the standard as being perpetually positive.
Tiny example: it used to be imperative to carry water with one. This led to containers, which led to one-use containers. The 'good' was having convenient hydration available. The 'thoughtless' was the evident fact that when everyone copied this, the one-use containers would be impossible to contain.
No moralizing here, just showing how things went and how they should have gone if our race had used the brain for what it is worth.
Are we doomed to continuing to use the brain in excess of our power to control ourselves, thus sooner or later eliciting extinction from the universe?

It is about to get much worse with Super AI Androids doing everything for us! No thinking required at all!

Though this is possibly the coming scenario, something quite different could be the result. With "AI" doing more and more, humans may be confronted with concentrating on what we really bring to the universe; create.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

It is as if we are witnessing the demise of an otherwise very promising species, killing itself with its finest attribute.

Trying for 3,000 years and failing.

I suspect a lot longer than that...

*****SMILE*****