Human Nature

[gatsby]

Do you believe that humans are inherently good or inherently bad?

Spin that question however you want, but when you boil it down your answer should be summed up in one of these options. I'm not looking for shades of grey ("they're both", "don't believe in 'human nature'", "nurture over nature", "it's complicated"...)... that's the easy way out. Make a choice and stand by your decision.

I intentionally left out more options to make pollers choose one of these two options.

[DnEhThEnD]

depends

is it evil to want?

[fast eddie]

Inherently good, but I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[Red Rider]

I say bad. Without religion, morals, or law holding us back, we would just kill for what we want (even those don't stop us often).

[gambiacrumember]

It's situational. People do what will benefit them. So what I'm saying is that people are inherently good to themselves.

[nyrolla420]

Humans are inherently good, who are controlled by aliens who are inherently evil, alien culture has been introduced to humans, now most humans are evil except for the ridiculed few who strive for spiritual purity.

[DanielBond]

I say bad. Without religion, morals, or law holding us back, we would just kill for what we want (even those don't stop us often).

People use religion, morals and laws to justify killing.

[chimbaktu]

people are inherently selfish.

[fast eddie]

people are inherently shellfish.

http://i.neoseeker.com/mgv/534479-Midnightwolf/479/121/jesus_display.jpg

[gambiacrumember]

http://i.neoseeker.com/mgv/534479-Midnightwolf/479/121/jesus_display.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/chimbaktu/13190857064911.gif

[bobgross]

What constitutes good and bad?

[bobgross]

I say bad. Without religion, morals, or law holding us back, we would just kill for what we want (even those don't stop us often).
Without morals there's no such thing as good or bad. Killing would just be killing.

[zale]

It's situational. People do what will benefit them. So what I'm saying is that people are inherently good to themselves.


This is wrong statement, people weren't always selfish as they are today. Proof that people aren't doing what will benefit them is presence of altruism in every human being.

Also, I myself consider that altrusim is reflection of god in people (not necessarily Christian god, but God in general), and I don't think that it is coincidence that every civilisation that existed have had some image of god.


To answer the question, I believe that people are inherently good.

[Dubjeeber]

I say bad. Without religion, morals, or law holding us back, we would just kill for what we want (even those don't stop us often).

good point, though maybe religions, morals and law came about as a response to some kind of primal 'goodness'.

I think we're all tribal in nature and we feel some need to protect and 'love' those in our clan or 'family'. When level minded people act destructivly, there's usually some kind of defensive impulse involved whereby they attack others to protect their own interests... From a wide view we perceive this as bad for obvious reasons, however, the person perpetuating 'badness' may be doing so for reasons they see as good for them or their team, clan, family etc...

Picking a side, i'd say we are 'good' in nature because if we wern't there would be a lot more 'wanton' destruction in the world based on nothing but urge and with no arguable benifits to anyone.
Plus, there wouldn't be any recognised validity in pretending to be 'good' or appealing to peoples 'goodness' (how politicians do)

good thread :)

[Jar]

How ugly are these skates?

http://www.rollout.4t.com/images/kizer_overboot1.jpg

[Senator Clay Davis]

Human beings are far too complex to be inherently good or bad.

[Alex Coe]

I was going to vote neither, because there is no good or bad, but you made your point with the OP. So I vote good. People just do what they think is best, aka what they want to do above all other options. I don't think it's possible for someone to do something intentionally against their will. When you think about it, your intention and your will are pretty synonymous, so having an intention that is the opposite of your will seems counter-intuitive. Since our reasons for wanting these things isn't intelligibly arguable as right or wrong, it's just a simple fact and can be labeled a good thing, in the sense that it's a real thing.

[Dberg]

Bad based on the principles and standards we set...

[White]

This is wrong statement, people weren't always selfish as they are today. Proof that people aren't doing what will benefit them is presence of altruism in every human being.

Also, I myself consider that altrusim is reflection of god in people (not necessarily Christian god, but God in general), and I don't think that it is coincidence that every civilisation that existed have had some image of god.


To answer the question, I believe that people are inherently god.

*fixed

[-nico-]

I believe human beings are born pure and kind. It's our cultures and society that spin us into becoming a good or bad person.

[Teh Nap]

this seems like more of a test to see if you can pin people into choosing from 2 options. How about neither as an option?

[fast eddie]

this seems like more of a test to see if you can pin people into choosing from 2 options. How about neither as an option?

ur so deep, bro

[toe-bee]

we're pretty good at fucking shit up.
thankfully, we are also good at adapting.
not sure if that's good or not.

[greenpiefilling]

food, shelter, clothing... thats all we need to survive, and thats all we selfishly control for money and power


evil.

[Flandangle]

I immediately thought of that Community episode. I'd say evil.

[R-MONEY$$$]

Good.

[DK2 rolla]

This shit scares me recently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity. I'm focussing on working out and being healthy in case some revolution shit goes down.

[Matthew Shannon]

Humans are inherently good, who are controlled by aliens who are inherently evil, alien culture has been introduced to humans, now most humans are evil except for the ridiculed few who strive for spiritual purity.

http://memegenerator.net/cache/instances/400x/10/10777/11036176.jpg

[Keith Courage]

Matt Shannon. Did you delete your backslide sig and leave the text or is my new Firefox add-on blocking it?

Oh, people are inherently good. L. Ron Hubbard agrees.

[Matthew Shannon]

Matt Shannon. Did you delete your backslide sig and leave the text or is my new Firefox add-on blocking it?

Oh, people are inherently good. L. Ron Hubbard agrees.

its probably your firefox, because i did not delete it. blame the aliens

[*ROYALwithCHEESE*]

Humans are greedy...

Interestingly i find the idea of God (good) and the devil (bad) just a lame excuse by humans to explain why people are inherently good or bad.
Rather than accept what we are capable of or take the blame for the evil actions we take we just blame the devil for it.
A god is used to explain what we cannot and use as a herding tool for the vulnerable.

I HAVE STERRED THIS TOPIC TO RELIGION

[Matthew Shannon]

I HAVE STERRED THIS TOPIC TO RELIGION


Fuck You... just seriously fuck you.

[zale]

Rather than accept what we are capable of or take the blame for the evil actions we take we just blame the devil for it.
A god is used to explain what we cannot and use as a herding tool for the vulnerable.


I can't explain how much is this incorrect. First of all, only idiots and (mostly American's) religious fanatics are blaming the devil for the bad things that are happening.
And it is not as simple as "we do not understand that, god did it", lots of serious philosophers had came to the conclusion that there is some outer force that is not materialistically understandable.
The "herding tool for the vulnerable" statement just shows how little knowledge you have about that topic and the word "god" in general.

Also, people seriously need to stop equaling term "god" with "Christian God".

[fast eddie]

I can't explain how much is this incorrect. First of all, only idiots and (mostly American's) religious fanatics are blaming the devil for the bad things that are happening.
And it is not as simple as "we do not understand that, god did it", lots of serious philosophers had came to the conclusion that there is some outer force that is not materialistically understandable.
The "herding tool for the vulnerable" statement just shows how little knowledge you have about that topic and the word "god" in general.

Also, people seriously need to stop equaling term "god" with "Christian God".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifeyKhxgHbA

[Matthew Shannon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifeyKhxgHbA

this is the creepiest thing ever made.

[zale]

this is the creepiest thing ever made.
This.

Seriously, what the hell?

[playrollerblades4life7]

People are inherently good.

[Keith Courage]

See the cat thread.