Gob Hobblin wrote:Lt Light Ark: My disagreement is in abandoning the 'self,' but that's me. I like being me, and abandoning me is a concept that I find alien and abhorrent. I can see how it might appeal to others, though, and I think defended your stance eloquently.
Epilogue: YOU...ARE TYPING...WORDS. Things that exist because of intelligence. Forming concepts, ideas, and arguments, because of 'pesky intelligence.'
If 'intelligence' was a ridiculous concept that didn't exist, than how you are exercising the language and writing skills necessary to argue this...whatever it is you believe. It's not a philosophy, because I don't see any organization to it beyond whining self-indulgence. I mean, shit, kid: you're on an anime site. If you thought 'novels and pottery' were such meaningless contributions to human development, then what the hell are you here for?
Oh, and let's switch over to instincts now, because apparently those are bad, too. Instincts exist...because they are pre-programmed biological responses to institute reactions our basic 'logical' brains can't handle. Things like, 'pain hurts.' 'Sex feels good.' 'Food is tasty.' 'Sleep is nice.' Things that keep you from collapsing into a twitching pile of function-less tissue that can't defend itself from stray cats that would come and eat it.
Having instincts makes you an organism. And the basic instinct of 'don't do stupid shit that will make you dead, because that's fucking stupid!' is a basic instinctive drive. And human beings are organisms. Congratulations, welcome to the world. Suck it up, buttercup.
Those 'instincts' that you deride are the same things that tell you don't touch fire, don't lick knives, and don't punch bears. I am befuddled as to how you would look at that and say, "Wow, that's stupid. I should CHOOSE to chew on glass if I feel like it, because I'm a human!" You sound like the kind of person whose life is terrible you CHOSE to make it terrible. In which case, you can't blame the world: you can only blame yourself. I mean, you'd have to, if you look at the construction of an airplane and say, "Oh, we did that because it was EASY." How many died in the pioneering of aviation? How long and hard do you think the road was in engineering, mathematics, and lives lost, to get from falling off a cliff and not dying, to shooting a man millions of miles through vacuum, to hit an object moving at millions of miles per second, land him there, then bring him back to earth alive? That's 'easy?' We did that because it was 'easy?' You have the most...surreal sense of reality I have read in a long time.
Apparently, being intelligent is bad. Having instincts is bad. Everything about everything is bad. So, yeah, I am going to debunk your ideas. Humanity is amazing. It is complex, it is roiling, it is alive, it is capable of great accomplishment, and great atrocity, but it endures and evolves. That is humanity, and it is amazing. Anyone who is incapable of seeing that is just broken. They are flawed. That is not an opinion, that is a fact. There is piece missing in that person that is fundamental to existence.
As for not respecting someone choosing to do something the hard way, well: if it nets an amazing gain, is absa-fucking-lutely something worth bragging about. It is the achievement of both effort and reward, and the person who denigrates that is a person who hasn't achieved anything, and is frankly too lazy and self-indulgent to try. You don't build a computer because it's easy. You don't engineer the Internet because it's easy. The result may make life easier and convenient, but the road to that reward is...HARD. It is difficult. Years of effort, and research, and loss, and gain, was required for every little thing you have that further separates your life from squatting in the bushes and fighting off insects.
I mean, for a guy that talks about how it's preferable to end life than to keep enduring the ragged and unjust torment of the world, because, boo fucking hoo, it's so goddamned HARD to live, you seem a lot more interested in convincing OTHER people to kill themselves. Which means that you yourself know that your own stance is an inherently hypocritical and flawed. That, or you're just trolling, and you actually don't believe a word you're saying, and you're just going for what you think is the most shocking thing to say, than the most 'true' or 'real.' I feel inclined to think it's that, because what you are touting sounds very much like a teenager's idea of edgy nihilism. Shit, even nihilism is more realistic than what you are arguing. There is NOTHING logical about what you've said. There is no rhyme or reason to your arguments beyond, "Being intelligent sucks. Having instincts suck. The world sucks. Technology sucks. I'm right, your wrong, let's all kill ourselves." I'm sorry to say it, but that's not logic. That's complaining.
Oh RIP dude, I messed up with my wording in that last one. What I meant to say was that "our morality" and "our intelligence" are ridiculous concepts, because neither are truly unique to us. Being smart is good, but being human doesn't automatically mean being intelligent, and once we finally make our AI, our own intelligence won't even be impressive anymore. I gotta admit, that was very bad on my part.
As for instincts--again, not all are bad, but a lot of them are not sensible. Like our fear of heights, when we have pretty much 0 chances of falling. We should never say that something is smart and good just because it's our instinct--hell, rapists are acting on instincts, because reproduction is our strongest instinct of all.
Then, as for "choosing the hard way", let me elaborate. The process of developing the technology to fly was difficult indeed, but we did it because we wanted a easier way to get from point A to point B. We overcame a relatively short period of struggles so that we can have easier lives in the long term, and every other technological advancement was inspired by the same desire. To come up with something that will ultimately make our lives easier and more comfortable...that shouldn't be shocking. To be honest, the shocking thing would be to say that we do hard things(no innuendo intended) just for the sake of it, because I'm honestly never not surprised by a good ol' masochist.