Comment by armitron | Hacker News Reader

Comment by armitron | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one who finds this bit of social conditioning (relationships with other people) as hugely overblown in terms of what's important in life?

Only in a culture that's so far fallen into degeneracy could something as tripe as that be considered (near or THE) ultimate purpose of life?

What about technology, scientific progress, our guided evolution as a species and so on?

We're far too obsessed about "relationships" with other walking-dead sacks of meat instead of what really matters, our legacy and the future. Which is why we find ourselves in this sad state of affairs today.

Endlessly bombarded and distracted by cheap entertainment (social networking, sex, porn, consumerism, money) and all too happy to leave the important bits in the hands of who exactly? People who have turned academia into a filthy whore that is constantly being pimped out to the highest bidder.

We have become the plebeians while mega corporations and elite government groups are free to write history and dictate how we will evolve.

I'm not saying we should live life as automatons, but this article is the perfect example of someone who's completely missing the picture. It would be great if we had a stabilizing factor to counteract this sort of bullshit but alas it's pretty much non-existent these days.

Nonsense. If you don't like relationships that's fine, but calling humans "walking dead sacks of meat" is just misanthropic rhetoric. Talk about this being a particularly "degenerate age" is typical of cults. Most people find social life to be a crucial source of meaning and enjoyment, and view technology as a means to that end. If you have another set of preferences again that's alright but why frame it as everyone else being wrong and call a basic facet of human existence "tripe"?

Because I'm not taking anything for granted. I don't see wasting my time playing cards with friends from highschool as being a basic facet of human existence.

Or spending unnecessary time with my parents.

Or moving back to the city I was born in order to pursue that, instead of living in a city where I can make the biggest difference.

My post simply posits the question of re-examining what we've been indoctrinated with. Look at any ancient advanced civilization and you'll see that during their ascension they were not operating with "social life" high up in their list of priorities in life. It was only when same civilizations came crashing down that "relationships" and social-obsession increased a lot in perceived importance.

Disagree. Civilization exists because of social impulses built into the human animal. The ascension of any civilization was fueled by institutions, cultural norms, guilds and churches and 100 kinds of socialization.

I use the word social in a very specific, narrow way, as I have explained.

Institutions, guilds and churches have nothing to do with "relationships" as exhibited in the article OP linked to, since they are explicitly furthering the same goals I talked about as being of paramount importance.

Did you read the article?

Do you understand the meaning of 'relationship'? You can't be a member of an intimate social construct without one. Marriage, religion, even politics is all about that.

That wasn't an 'article' so much as an infographic. There was little philosophizing present. That's all been introduced in this thread.

"Look at any ancient advanced civilization and you'll see that during their ascension they were not operating with "social life" high up in their list of priorities in life. It was only when same civilizations came crashing down that these priorities became important"

This is as unscientific as it can get. From someone who supposedly care more about science than the rest of us, it presents you as someone with a delusion, not an ideology as you claim.

That's a huge claim. Do you have any anthropological or historical evidence to reference?

If you don't care about your parents or your high school buddies, that's not really an indictment of social life; maybe you just need new friends.

Even during the European enlightenment, companionship was hugely important to lots of thinkers. Some historians trace the whole era's intellectual climate to the rise of social coffee shops.

That's not the same as playing cards with high school buddies but social life is vast and wide. This right here is social life, indeed you're complaining about social media on a social media site.

> Because I'm not taking anything for granted.

You seem to be taking that progress ('Towards what?' one is tempted to ask) has value in and of itself for granted.

So you're 16 and haven't figured out That your relationships with others will likely define the majority of what you can accomplish in life.

Good relationships amplify your abilities, well being, and give valuable perspective.

If you haven't experienced this, then it sounds like you need new friends.

> What about technology, scientific progress, our guided evolution as a species and so on?

A means to an end, that end being to enhance and prolong my relationships with those I love. Sensory pleasures are fine too, but nothing is remotely as important to me as my favorite walking sacks of meat.

> People who have turned academia into a filthy whore that is constantly being pimped out to the highest bidder.

Can you choose a better, less vulgar metaphor? It makes you look really bad, and there's nothing wrong with being a sex worker.

IMHO, at the end of the day, how we interact with fellow man matters incomparably more than things like "technology, scientific progress, our guided evolution as a species". If we discard the social component, we risk truly becoming the "walking-dead sacks of meat" that you mention.

No offense intended -- just my opinion. Happy New Year to you and the HN community!

We're far too obsessed about "relationships" with other walking-dead sacks of meat instead of what really matters, our legacy and the future.

Who is this legacy and future for? "Other walking-dead sacks of meat"? Our glorious transhuman descendants?

Most people put their relationships with others very high on their priority list of what is important in life. Sure, improving the world is also important, but dismissing relationships with others to achieve that goal is missing a very major point in life.

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