All animals in their nature exploit the resources they have access to in order to survive/multiply.

Humans however seem to have a trend of exploiting things to the max, even to our own detriment when we completely obliterate the land we’re using. Despite having the knowledge to thrive without destroying the planet, we still do it.

Is this human nature at this point, or something else? Interested to see what the science community thinks about how we go to this weird place in our species’ evolution

  • Disillusionist@piefed.worldEnglish
    3·
    6 days ago

    This reminds me of an article someone posted titled Homo Stultus: The Case For Renaming Ourselves. It mentions that Homo Sapiens means “wise man”, but:

    The more fitting name is Homo stultus—“foolish man.”

    To most people I’m sure that might sound a bit misanthropic, but:

    To rename ourselves Homo stultus is not mere cynicism. It is an act of moral realism. Names shape identity, and identity shapes behavior. To be “wise man” is to assume that wisdom already defines us; to be “foolish man” is to recognize that it does not. Such recognition could mark the beginning of genuine wisdom—the kind born of humility rather than hubris.

    I think it’s actually a pretty valid wake up call. The article brings up a lot of good points.

    Here are a couple more quotes talking about the problem:

    The root of our folly lies in the myth of human exceptionalism

    Anthropocentrism, in other words, is a kind of education—a cultural conditioning that replaces empathy with hierarchy.

    I’ve actually started thinking we’re due for a name change now myself. It’s like holding up a mirror that confronts us with an image that maybe most of us never look at very honestly if we can avoid it. It might help if we started looking at ourselves as we are demonstrating ourselves to be by our actions, rather than the more comforting yet ignorant narratives we tell ourselves. Maybe then we can start trying to become actual Homo Sapiens.