The Altruism of our Time

It has concerned and irritated me for some time the increasing amount of material (of all forms) on the subject of our common human baseness, our ignorance and lack of care of the environment, our consumerism, our 'bigger is better'/'more is better' attitude which is destroying the Earth, our one and only home. Reflecting back on the days when human society was more about giving, was more altruistic. Looking back at the days of the bush men tribes, where it was a live and let live society, in harmony with mother Earth and her other children.

I'm relatively sick of this.

I wonder if my idea on the progression of our global societies, explaining its current state, is correct... The idea that I have is this...

Previously when religion permeated all societal acts and expressions, selfishness was considered evil. Selfishness back in those days was associated with not sharing with your neighbour, not being pious, not giving to the needy, not turning the other cheek, etc etc, your sacrifices in this life, would mean great gifts in the next. Basically, the ethics of the day, was that altruism in your expression of life within your society was admirable/good.

Then came the age of Enlightenment (check), the philosophers of the day moved away from God, embraced free thinking: what do you think is good or bad. The 10 commandments are seen to be the means to survival, are we born with an inherent understanding of good/bad... etc etc. Then the movement of capitalism shouldering its way to the surface from the deluge of communism and similar societal structures, which are the embodiment of the previously admired altruism. The world begins to shun the idea of socialism, and marketing through its amazing intuition/understanding(?) of the human psyche begins to sell us our image.

(Aside idea, previously farming enable people not to all be farmers and toil over the land to eat, this 'progress' has come so far, then, sewing machines allowed us to stop being tailors for ourselves, and so on. Is it possible that we have come so far, that these days we are able to even buy an image? I guess that is partly true, not only through the fashion trends, and styles of today, but with the increasing popularity and inventiveness of online gaming, where you can in actual fact be the perfect blonde, size 8 barbie you have always wanted to be...)

Altruism on a societal level is now shunned (e.g. Ayn Rand philosophy (which from the outlook as been largely embraced by society), and frankly reads well for the first few pages, but its so fundamental that it doesn't take long to get the idea... and yet, you notice there are still many pages to be read... and it starts to be tedious, and read like a religious text, marred by fanaticism and elitism which is tedious. But, if you know Hank Rearden, say hi for me ;)).

Okay, so I come to the point, that altruism while being shunned on a societal level has taken root on a personal level. Is it possible that whereas before 'we' were taught to give concessions to others who were not as fortunate as 'we', and bear the burden of 'their' idiocy or just downright cretinism. Having stepped away from this mode of 'thinking about others' (before yourself, okay, I know that society didn't actually do this all the time, if at all, but it was the ethical structure back then... society at least talked about it. It was filled with 'saints' who scarified themselves for others, or greater good.), now, in rejecting this idea of selflessness, and turning to 'ethical' selfishness, it has forgotten that 'ethical selfishness' has two sides: the necessity, the inherent responsibility of looking after yourself and building your own morality.

These days people are selfish, (its so easy to be, comes so naturally :D), but they are altruistic when it comes to recognising their own faults, and working on rooting them out. These days the mantra is: accept me for who I am, me for me... Even though I just bough 'me' on sale at Myer/Maceys... Hahaha...My goodness... it's laughable... :)

Hopefully, 'we' get over this, self indulgent outlook/inlook? I guess this is my irritating contribution to the plethora of stuff written on how bad we are as a society :D But you know... at least there's hope here, and not just the empty words of 'we have the power to make a change', 'every little bit counts', but phrased like this: you're not okay the way you are. Okay, seriously, but still in a tongue in cheek way, I would have to end it like this: think more, and feel less.

Probability Theory As Extended Logic

has a magical ring to it, doesn't it? :)

Edwin Jaynes was the driving force behind this idea - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Thompson_Jaynes.