From: nospam@example.net   
      
   On Wed, 29 May 2024, oldernow wrote:   
      
   >> Maybe we should start a _philosophical_ thread about   
   >> Trump? Maybe that would take us back to planet earth? ;)   
   >   
   > Amidst a whole lot of yawning on my end....   
      
   Come on... wake up! Isn't now the time when the temperature is slowly   
   increasing to culminate in a political election frenzy after the summer?   
   Don't you feel the adrenaline? The unstoppable urge to vote to make   
   society a better place? ;)   
      
   > I mean, I was already convinced most humans were idiots.   
      
   But isn't that why Trump is needed? The idiots needs a strong leader to   
   guide them! ;)   
      
   > I chanced upon the following entitled "Human Un-nature"   
   > last night, which I found considerably more interesting   
   > than most of what I encounter anymore:   
   >   
   > gemini://beyondneolithic.life/posts/human_un-nature.gmi   
   >   
   > I'll repeat it for your benefit:   
      
   Thank you very much!   
      
   I don't know what to believe. On the one hand, my favourite argument   
   against wokeness and identity politics is that if you sub-divide enough   
   times, you end up with _individualism_. ;) So the below could be looked   
   at from that angle.   
      
   Then you have the teasing angle of human unnaturalness being the nature   
   of humans. In fact, since it is nature, we have no other choice. ;)   
      
   Then you have the boring path of the fact that we have common biologies,   
   organs, and common feelings and ways to react. Common feelings and for   
   instance, habits such as gift giving, or responding in kind, being   
   things which have repeated across numerous cultures and peoples.   
      
   Just some interpretations that come to mind. =)   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> # Human Un-nature   
   >>   
   >> Everyone has gotten into some kinbd of argument or   
   >> disagreement about "human nature," which is supposed to   
   >> be the one true thing that makes humans actually human if   
   >> you dig deep enough through all the layers of society,   
   >> relationships, morals, etc. Or if you haven't had an   
   >> argument about it, you've at least had someone bring it up   
   >> as some kind of self evident explanation for something in   
   >> the world, usually something they take to be unfortunate   
   >> but unavvoidable. "I don't really like the police either,   
   >> but humans are naturally violent and greedy, so we need   
   >> them." "My boss is a dick too, but the sad truth is that   
   >> humans are naturally lazy, so what are you gonna do?"   
   >>   
   >> Of course, this supposedly essential, core element of our   
   >> species called "human natures" has a funny way of changing   
   >> depending on the time, the place, and whoever's in charge   
   >> of something. In medieval Europe, humans were naturally   
   >> servile which is why we needed lords and ultimatyely kings   
   >> to keep everything going. In the contemporary U.S., humans   
   >> are naturally greedy, which is why we need capitalism to   
   >> turn that greed into wealth for all. And so on.   
   >>   
   >> I think we ought to take a different view entirely, and   
   >> one that's actually really simple. Humans, and (so far)   
   >> *only* humans, are those animals which are precisely   
   >> *unnatural* to the core. There is absolutely nothing   
   >> natural about humans. We are that species that presisely   
   >> *does not* have a particular way to be, and in fact there   
   >> might be as many ways to be human as there are humans   
   >> themselves. There is no human nature, nothing at the core   
   >> of the species, all of our manifold histories, cultures,   
   >> societies, etc. might just be the various ways we've tried   
   >> to fill in the essential *gap* that constitutes us all,   
   >> individually and collectively.   
   >>   
   >> I think starting from this point gets us a lot further than   
   >> essentializing the values of a given era and calling it   
   >> "human nature." It helps us get out of the trap (at least   
   >> conceptually) of neoliberalism, which tells us that this,   
   >> right now, the way things currently are, is the only   
   >> possible way things could be, give or take a few minor   
   >> modifications here and there. No: My thesis is that we are   
   >> only what we chose to be exactly because there is nothing   
   >> essential about us. We are only what we practice, what we   
   >> do. We are what we choose to build for oursleves. Which   
   >> means we *can* change *everything*, if we wanted to.   
   >>   
   >> There is no human nature, there is only human un-nature. I   
   >> should come up with a better turn of phrase, but for now   
   >> this is what I've got.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)