Self-preservation and self-destruction
A spectacular presentation at TedTalks on Aids in Africa:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/143
Lots of fun thoughts can come out of this talk, but the one that hit me first was the idea that places in Africa with higher Malaria (higher deathrate besides AIDS) had minimal inpact on changing sexual behavior compared to places with longer lifespans.
I've thought about this in my own life, trying balance "being good" with "feeling good", you know on all the small things, snacking, procrastination, keeping a regular sleep schedule, exercise, etc.
I notice when I make poor decisions, it comes from times of hopelessness, like eating a half dozen candy bars when I'm miserable working a 12 hour day that can't end until I'm done. I offer "trade-off", soothing frustration and emotion, but making my body deal with the poor calorie choices. I mostly figure in the short run, the body can handle bad choices, but effects can accumulate beyond some happy moderation level, and affect our health later.
I imagine a little that AIDS in Africa offer a similar dilemma. People who feel good about their future, their choices, their opportunity, will be more able to step back from short term stress and make better choices that take a little work, whether that means wearing a condom, or limiting sexual partners, at least thinking of the male side, although issues like prostitution apply perhaps at least to the degree women trade sexual favors for economic ones, protective relationships, even outside of formal prostitution.
Anyway, it hit me mostly because at a "rational" level, I'd long think we ought to just make good decisions, but I realize people (including me) make poor/irrational decisions, those that trade long term risks for short term relief of suffering or stress. I wonder when will power can be enough, to let the mind lead (and limit behavior), and I don't have an answer, except to admit we all need hope and comfort and safety, and in environments when we lose these, we won't make the best decisions.
I'm not sure what "politics" can do about this, almost more a religious question, except thinking of the constitution and the "pursuit of happiness."
Education is one side of helping people, but it only helps at the level of mind. I suppose education can be used as propaganda, to produce fear, and fear of future pain (like suffering eternity in hell!) perhaps can motivate people to avoid things that are bad for them in the long run. Maybe fear breaks down when the costs are only projected into the future? Fear helps people from TRYING "crack", but once they do something else must help them resist returning when they decide to stop.
Religious people sometimes say people take drugs because they want to feel closer to God, to bridge the gap created in the banishment from the garden, or whatever. I don't have any great interest to deny such stories, except to call them mythical, representing "something" inside, which may or may not be as claimed.
On poverty in general, lack of opportunity, fear of inferiority, of rejection, of not fitting in, of not having what it takes to get ahead, it all knocks people down, convinces them to not try as hard as if they could see exactly how to succeed. At only level I'm all for "great care" against a "welfare society" that rewards failure too much, teaches dependence. I only constrast that with the reality that "society" may not be offering what people most need, or some people, so you can't expect all people to get excited about 9-5 existence alone.
I suppose the population explosion is also related. I mean I know it must be. Raising children for those in poverty BECOMES their central opportunity, and however much pain it causes at times, it gives all meaning and hope. And I can see there little incentive necesarily to be strategic against "more kids" when its all you have. You just hope SOME might find success.
Some like to talk about the Western life as reducing poverty, and reducing birthrates, and perhaps that relation is fully true, BUT if the world's resources can't sustain the transition population and consumption needed, then it's a false hope to me, from my rational view.
The scary thing for me, if population growth is a response to poverty and a short lifespan, THEN there's this dilemma or fear. We can't simply reduce death rates through modern knowledge UNLESS we can reduce hopelessness, and once population levels get too high, poverty too high, then hopelessness might be impossible to cure. So how much can we "help"?
And more scary, is hopeless people are easily lead by promising leaders, by religious fundamentalism, giving them hope such that they serve darker interests of the leader for power. You gotta think much of ancient wars came from this dynamic.
And in modern capitalism, it seems IMPOSSIBLE to "help" people in third world countries without exploiting them for our benefit. I suppose I'll always just feel guilty on things I ought not to, not wanting to profit from others. I live a privledged life I can't teach or advocate how to reach, and I expect it can end without my consent, like losing my job.
It really does seem that modern life offers very mixed blessings. It allows short term prosperity to many, at the cost of honest hope for future prosperity, and the success itself guarantees the loss of future prosperity.
At some level, my despair is not smaller than those in an african village. I suppose at least I hope for a long life, so I can't be too lost, but more if I look at the world backwards, not forwards. I'm not sure what my life will be worth among 9 billion people in 2050, if our success continues as planned, but best guess for me either a lot LESS energy and resources, and/or a lot dirtier resources keeping us happy.
Sure, I can play "happy" with the technologists, just wait a little longer, we're told, and the promised land will come. Such beliefs keeps us happy so we'll perhaps take care of our health, and hope to live to a ripe old age, and all that good stuff.
And if I let my gloom&doom side come out, which I do, I'll throw away saving for a retirement I can't imagine will ever happen. I'll throw away investments that could compound nicely. I'll just keep building larger walls to protect myself from danger, until I'm fully alone and paranoid about those drug dealers down the street, coming into my house and robbing me at gunpoint, and all that. Fears can be rational, and yet quickly jump to irrational, exaggerate dangers and hide the little steps needed to change things for the better.
Whatever else I know, we're all in this world together, and we've all got struggles, and we've all got challenges to overcome, and finding rational hope is perhaps the biggest one that needs practice every day!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/143
Lots of fun thoughts can come out of this talk, but the one that hit me first was the idea that places in Africa with higher Malaria (higher deathrate besides AIDS) had minimal inpact on changing sexual behavior compared to places with longer lifespans.
I've thought about this in my own life, trying balance "being good" with "feeling good", you know on all the small things, snacking, procrastination, keeping a regular sleep schedule, exercise, etc.
I notice when I make poor decisions, it comes from times of hopelessness, like eating a half dozen candy bars when I'm miserable working a 12 hour day that can't end until I'm done. I offer "trade-off", soothing frustration and emotion, but making my body deal with the poor calorie choices. I mostly figure in the short run, the body can handle bad choices, but effects can accumulate beyond some happy moderation level, and affect our health later.
I imagine a little that AIDS in Africa offer a similar dilemma. People who feel good about their future, their choices, their opportunity, will be more able to step back from short term stress and make better choices that take a little work, whether that means wearing a condom, or limiting sexual partners, at least thinking of the male side, although issues like prostitution apply perhaps at least to the degree women trade sexual favors for economic ones, protective relationships, even outside of formal prostitution.
Anyway, it hit me mostly because at a "rational" level, I'd long think we ought to just make good decisions, but I realize people (including me) make poor/irrational decisions, those that trade long term risks for short term relief of suffering or stress. I wonder when will power can be enough, to let the mind lead (and limit behavior), and I don't have an answer, except to admit we all need hope and comfort and safety, and in environments when we lose these, we won't make the best decisions.
I'm not sure what "politics" can do about this, almost more a religious question, except thinking of the constitution and the "pursuit of happiness."
Education is one side of helping people, but it only helps at the level of mind. I suppose education can be used as propaganda, to produce fear, and fear of future pain (like suffering eternity in hell!) perhaps can motivate people to avoid things that are bad for them in the long run. Maybe fear breaks down when the costs are only projected into the future? Fear helps people from TRYING "crack", but once they do something else must help them resist returning when they decide to stop.
Religious people sometimes say people take drugs because they want to feel closer to God, to bridge the gap created in the banishment from the garden, or whatever. I don't have any great interest to deny such stories, except to call them mythical, representing "something" inside, which may or may not be as claimed.
On poverty in general, lack of opportunity, fear of inferiority, of rejection, of not fitting in, of not having what it takes to get ahead, it all knocks people down, convinces them to not try as hard as if they could see exactly how to succeed. At only level I'm all for "great care" against a "welfare society" that rewards failure too much, teaches dependence. I only constrast that with the reality that "society" may not be offering what people most need, or some people, so you can't expect all people to get excited about 9-5 existence alone.
I suppose the population explosion is also related. I mean I know it must be. Raising children for those in poverty BECOMES their central opportunity, and however much pain it causes at times, it gives all meaning and hope. And I can see there little incentive necesarily to be strategic against "more kids" when its all you have. You just hope SOME might find success.
Some like to talk about the Western life as reducing poverty, and reducing birthrates, and perhaps that relation is fully true, BUT if the world's resources can't sustain the transition population and consumption needed, then it's a false hope to me, from my rational view.
The scary thing for me, if population growth is a response to poverty and a short lifespan, THEN there's this dilemma or fear. We can't simply reduce death rates through modern knowledge UNLESS we can reduce hopelessness, and once population levels get too high, poverty too high, then hopelessness might be impossible to cure. So how much can we "help"?
And more scary, is hopeless people are easily lead by promising leaders, by religious fundamentalism, giving them hope such that they serve darker interests of the leader for power. You gotta think much of ancient wars came from this dynamic.
And in modern capitalism, it seems IMPOSSIBLE to "help" people in third world countries without exploiting them for our benefit. I suppose I'll always just feel guilty on things I ought not to, not wanting to profit from others. I live a privledged life I can't teach or advocate how to reach, and I expect it can end without my consent, like losing my job.
It really does seem that modern life offers very mixed blessings. It allows short term prosperity to many, at the cost of honest hope for future prosperity, and the success itself guarantees the loss of future prosperity.
At some level, my despair is not smaller than those in an african village. I suppose at least I hope for a long life, so I can't be too lost, but more if I look at the world backwards, not forwards. I'm not sure what my life will be worth among 9 billion people in 2050, if our success continues as planned, but best guess for me either a lot LESS energy and resources, and/or a lot dirtier resources keeping us happy.
Sure, I can play "happy" with the technologists, just wait a little longer, we're told, and the promised land will come. Such beliefs keeps us happy so we'll perhaps take care of our health, and hope to live to a ripe old age, and all that good stuff.
And if I let my gloom&doom side come out, which I do, I'll throw away saving for a retirement I can't imagine will ever happen. I'll throw away investments that could compound nicely. I'll just keep building larger walls to protect myself from danger, until I'm fully alone and paranoid about those drug dealers down the street, coming into my house and robbing me at gunpoint, and all that. Fears can be rational, and yet quickly jump to irrational, exaggerate dangers and hide the little steps needed to change things for the better.
Whatever else I know, we're all in this world together, and we've all got struggles, and we've all got challenges to overcome, and finding rational hope is perhaps the biggest one that needs practice every day!
posted by Ares Olympus at 2:42 PM
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