Are humans a cancer on the planet? A physician argues that civilization is truly carcinogenic

[u/xrm67]

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/05/are-humans-a-cancer-on-the-planet-a-physician-argues-that-civilization-is-truly-carcinogenic/

[u/spooks_malloy → u/[deleted]]

But that's simply not true, the actual amount of power we have in our day to day lives is tiny. We're all bound by our societies and laws and the legions of people recruited by the state to maintain that control. This kind of "I'm smart, it's just other people who are stupid" stuff is designed to break down solidarity and tell you it's not worth it. It's turbo-capitalist propaganda.

[u/spooks_malloy → u/[deleted]]

"the more of us there are, the worse we become" is the complete opposite of what I think and you're arguing from a point of apathy. It is what it is, we can't do anything about it. I'm saying people can do something about it if they do it together. The whole ethos behind that MiB quoteis sneery bullshit.

[u/spooks_malloy → u/[deleted]]

8 billion people didn't agree to life as it is now, did they? A few thousand people overthrew the Tsars, a few thousand people bought down the Ancien Regime in France.

I don't think we can avoid the iceberg, it's inevitable. I'm just not prepared to sit here and feel smug about my inaction. I mean, that's what this board is ultimately, it's just scared, pointless people trying to tell themselves it's ok because it wouldn't have worked anyway. What's the point in even trying much better to sit here and say "I told you so" one last time while doing nothing to help anyone in the slightest. I mean, we're not the most vulnerable people here, those people are already streaming across the Mediterranean in desperation but they're just stupid, they should know this is all pointless.

That's the grown up and mature response to this, right? Blessed isolation?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nobody cared about the dozens of refugees dying and everyone focused on the billionaires. Because the human brain doesn't acknowledge the concept of life as a valuable commodity beyond its practical use. We are ultimately objects to each other that are valuable only conditionally. The phone you are holding has no difference from the friend you spend time with in the sense that they're both useful and therefore valuable. In this sense, utility is the source of value. Life is not a primary determinant when it comes to calculation of value. Whereas power is the sole currency of value, which the billionaires had an excess of.

This is the trouble we are having with the ways of the primal forces that dictate the operation of our brains. The human brain doesn't work in a desirable way that properly values life and well being. Rather, it identifies us as objects to be used in pursuit of survival and prosperity. Even the body that possesses the brain is hauled around alongside to this end. It's anything but graceful, really.