Do Any of You Think?

[Doc Holliday]

Three things happened.

1. I got a rabbit and it's the first animal I have really invested time in training and we bonded.
2. I re-watched True Detective with friends who have never seen it and talked about cops' social problems and PTSD.
3. I started reading Kant and got interested in his pursuit to define morals off reason alone - without a God or peer pressure.

Between the rabbit and True Detective, I thought about how domesticating an animal is really just trying to teach them to behave like a human as much as possible - to communicate, to cooperate, to do work, in turn to be protected and fed as part of the society and thus be less afraid. And how that relates to humans, when we send humans out to kill in war and policing, we are essentially sending them into the wild. And just as a domesticated pet cannot survive if released into the wild, neither can a human. That is the root of PTSD.

In a way, Kant reconfirmed this. His logical applied morals derived from Christianity waxes on how sin is instinct and to perform in order for a better future, you must go against those urges. You can't buy a house or kid's college, if you spend your paycheck in the strip club.

So, all of crime and war can be described as undomesticated humans. The actions of a wild animal living in the moment.

The domestication, the providing and protecting of an animal reduces fear, and in humans Kant describes how fear leads to bad morals, sin - greed, gluttony, lust, etc. because these are necessary to survive. But, when fear is alleviated, one can then focus on good morals, on cooperating and planning for the future.

So, if good morals and domestication come from training and lack of fear, shouldn't the basis of all public policy be to proberly provide for every citizen from birth in means of education and health?

[Fe 26]

So, if good morals and domestication come from training and lack of fear, shouldn't the basis of all public policy be to proberly provide for every citizen from birth in means of education and health?

Ignoring prejudiced, racism, and classicism, where people judge other people as unfit to receive help, I think people at the top never really get rid of their fear. They always need more to feel safe. Or they become accustomed to their life style and associate it with lack of fear and health. As a result, they deprive others of resources so they can have them and feel safe. And they are afraid of change because of the risk associated with it. They might lose the safety (as they perceive it) they have now.

They probably also realize that the resources of this earth are finite and if we were a truly successful species, we'd already choked the planet out. Humans want to have offspring and feel safe, and ultimately we can't do both.

[Fe 26]

Also, I think some of it is exacerbated by a richman's bias towards sure things and hedging bets. For all the self help business books that talk about big businessmen and the risks they take and how you just have to go for it if you want to be rich, studies have found that the richest men don't take risks. They almost always put their money into things that they know will provide return while minimizing the possibility of loss.

[Doc Holliday]

I don't think overpopulation will be a problem with resources, because the more educated and civilized we become, the less children we tend to have. That risk vs offspring inverse relation goes all the way back to fish and lower verts who have hundreds of kids due to the dangers of surviving until reproductive age. Poor people have lots of babies as a poor retirement fund. Rich people don't.

[Satsuki]

I think you're pursuing some great stuff, Doc. I'm glad you have Coke.

Along the cop lines, PLEASE watching this Frontline episode:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/in...ng-the-police/
about issues with the modern police force. I promise it's not rah rah rah cops suck and here's why. It's one of the most thoughtful and thought provoking pieces I've seen on current issues with cops.

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks, me too!

I'll check it out tonight! My chief critique of law in the US has to be our local laws are too incentivized by monetary needs (tickets are given for revenue vs behavioral changes) and prison is too concerned with punishment vs actually rehabilitating people. Both should focus on guiding members of society to become more useful, not just closing them off.

Also here's a podcast! http://philosophizethis.org/

[Satsuki]

That's very cool, thanks for the link! I always need new podcasts to listen to. I'll report back shortly.

/edit - can I dive into some of the later philosophers first, or is it best to start at the beginning?

[Diff-chan]

What's the beginning? I think Plato is still well worth reading today.

[Drewbacca]

He's good, and his thoughts were interesting but probably influenced too much by Socrates death. I also don't believe much of the ancient philosophers hit the mark when it came to human motivation—which is something we still vaguely understand but have more social data to help with. A lot of social progress we're on the precipice of right now seems kind of counter-intuitive.

[Doc Holliday]

/edit - can I dive into some of the later philosophers first, or is it best to start at the beginning?

I started with 3 episodes on Kant and he talks about things he hit on earlier, but not so much to lose you.

I then went back and started with episode 1. It's on Spotify too.

Early philosophy is interesting because it's like 80% wrong but watching them attempt to understand the unknown is fascinating and still relatable to today.