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You are wrong in this video specifically about the inherent nature of humanity. It is good. This may not be true in each individuals but in totality, human beings always strive towards progress, harmony and peace. It is clearly evident in the nature of our current society. Lots of people are evil but the frontier of civilization is always led with the objective of peace and progress. Evil acts and intuitions are always acted upon in secrecy or behind the curtains of power fearing moral scrutiny.
@@musicb5202 here's the thing, that's propaganda. think about it, you made an accident that's serious, suddenly most people think you deserve death as justified, who is evil? you or those who think they are inherently good?
Lenin once stated "Any civilization is three meals away from a violent revolution" So many things work so perfectly to keep the world functioning that is almost a miracle that society exists at all.
Lenin was also wrong. one quarter of north korea is starving to death at any given time since the early 1990s. Starving people are too weak to throw revolutions, more often than not.
Society only exists to maintain the power structure of those who are already in power. And that includes keeping the general population docile enough to not revolt.
Hurt people, Hurt people. Society doesn't always have the patience or time for empathy and thus creates a frustrated and lost creature looking for connection and belonging, but the creature knows not how to listen to others because no one truly listened to them. A cycle of pain can change to beauty if one understands just how much power they have by simply listening to another
True,but not everyone is capable of that,I'm an emphatic person that has run out of empathy simply because there are too many people who are broken in the head.
@oliverhopkins8074 empathy for people who are not responsible for the harms they've done is something you can still have. To act in accordance with justice and hold them responsible.
Some obvious things are said to lay a foundation so that all important points are on the mind of the reader. Sometimes it's easy to forget the basics when contemplating an argument or idea.
“There is nothing very odd about lambs disliking birds of prey, but this is no reason for holding it against large birds of prey that they carry off lambs. And when the lambs whisper among themselves, 'These birds of prey are evil, and does this not give us a right to say that whatever of the opposite of a bird of prey must be good?', there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such an argument - though the birds of prey will look somewhat quizzically and say, 'Wehave nothing against these good lambs; in fact, we love them; nothing tastes better than a tender lamb.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
civilisation hasn't made us evil, but people are fundamentally drawn to greed as we are biological creatures who want to survive, both on an individual and collective level
Well said. I don't like it when people naively assume most people are "good". COVID taught me that actually, humans are extremely selfish, and to quote Ripley in Aliens: "You don't see them screwing each other for a percentage. "
@uwayn9829 So you don't want to survive and to protect your family? Greed, egoism and the ability to be violent are a fundamental traits of human existence, because they helped us to stay alive, protect our families and be able to replicate. So it's a double edged sword.
If someone's thoughts are usually "evil" but their actions are usually "good", then are they a "good person" or a "bad person"? Maybe people do "good" things and"evil" things and shouldn't be simply defined as good or evil.
Good and evil are 100% subjective. They are not absolutes but fully dependant on context. There is not a single ethical puzzle that cannot be made to lead to the opposite conclusion by adding a bit more context. Saving a life is good. --> The person you saved is in constant agony, being awake is being tortured. Not so good anymore, eh? Killing a baby is bad. --> Our small band of hunter-gatherers is close to starving as-is, carrying that baby through winter will kill us all. Not so bad anymore, eh? Context is everything.
I would argue a bad person that does good things is a better person than a good person that does good things, because they have willingly chosen good over their inner nature
Same thing as bravery. You are brave because you are afraid but still do it. Nobody has 100% pure thoughts. But your actions make you the person you are. And for the dumb people: a positive action doesn't cancel out a bad action. Not doing a bad action is way better than doing something neutral. If you have the choice of helping your neighbor 100 times or not stealing 1 time. Then choose not stealing 1 time. A good person does not steal but a good person can be someone who never helps their neighbor.
bro I have some of the most f'ed up thoughts that I think any brain can produce , yet I consider myself a good person since I don't act on them. I really try to expose myself enough and not keep things inside me because i keep them inside me , then Evil will grow faster than light. People consider me trying to be funny when I make a joke. I don't. One of my friends today just said guess who's unfunny when I was just saying something when I wasn't even making a joke I suppose. I just said , I wasn't making a joke bro. Keep yourself exposed , Maybe I have ego but I wish for the humbility of the wise tree.
I used to think I was good. I was so well behaved. Rarely inconvenienced or bothered anyone. Until last year. I did something that no one in my non-online life knows about. If known, it would destroy my whole life. I had no idea I was capable of such evil. But, it seems I am. Since then I’ve no idea who I really am. The only solution I see is in the words of Jung, “I'd rather be whole than good”. Hopefully I can figure out how to do that.
Without some indication of what "evil" action you took, or what prompted that action, there's not enough information to actually make any sense of your comment. It's like a horoscope or fortune cookie stating, "things will change for you soon" - well duh, something is always changing therefore such a statement is always true, but is functionally just meaningless gibberish. Also, "non-online life" is harder to linguistically process than the more common "IRL", meaning "in real life"; e.g. "I did something that no one who knows me IRL knows about."
If it's any comfort, many more people who would admit it, have done absolutely horrific things. Have I? Depends how it's defined. Either way you are not likely to be a psychopath, as they don't really have any sense of remorse. You clearly do
I can relate. It can be hard and confusing to make sense of all the parts that make you you. What has helped me somewhat is the thought that no one is inherently good or evil. Therefore I don't think anyone deserves love any more or less than the next person. Forgive yourself. Reflect on why you did what you did, and try to prevent it from happening again. Take care
Oh, I know I'm evil at my core. I've very aware that the things that keep me in check, are consequences/laws, and I always try to put myself in other's shoes. But deep down, based on my thought and desires...I'm a messed up piece of sh*t.
I think there’s also something to be said that selfishness is, well at least to me, an inherent sort of evil that we all partake in constantly. It’s really eye opening when you come to the realization of how much things are about “me me me” all the time, and how that truly blinds you in a bit of a nasty way to other people. Even if you recognize some of it, there’s a vastness to this ego that pervades so much of how one can perceive the world. If something goes wrong, I know my mind immediately goes to the way I feel or how I was slighted. But it’s a fundamental selfishness. Hollow is the best way I could describe it, it does nothing for you or anyone else.
There is, fundamentally, no objective answer to whether or not anything is justified. Knowing what others believe is and isn't justified is still very useful information for guiding your own behavior.
Every organism's behaivors stem out from one simple goal, survival. Despite the complexities and differences in behaivior that we as humans along with many other animals have developed, the end and begining goal is still the same. Therefore we can conclude that no one and nothing is 'good' or 'bad' because these are beliefs derived from belief in the consept of right and wrong which was developed as the 'social contract' mentioned in the video, a means to maintain order in the societies we formed after we decided that they where nessecary for our survival. Even within our own societies we are all just products of circumstance, environment, past experiences and many other factors that contribute the forming of behaivoral patterns most optimal to survive based on the previously stated factors.
Wicked is ultimately subjective. It’s easy to say that a tribe who had to viciously kill members of a threatening neighboring tribe (Israelites vs. Canaanites anyone? Probably not because that’s in the Bible and was condoned/commanded by “God”. See how that works?) were “wicked” from the modern comforts of your 21st century life.
Honestly I use to be a "do no harm, leave no negative impact" kind of human and always have been but having people target me for harassment, steal from me, use me and dog me out at random has made me literally violent. I started smacking men for talking crazy to me, I get aggressive when people get aggressive with me, I seek revenge instead of turning the other cheek. And I absolutely hate it. I miss when I believed the world was kind and when I believed most people where good people. I genuinely used to believe that something had to trigger evil in people but now I see people are just like that. Most people have I'll intentions, most people will do you wrong and most of the time it's best to just avoid others entirely. I hate it and it feels wrong but it's reality. Be a POS cause people are going to treat you like one regardless.
Read Human Action from Mises. Humans react to frameworks. We all want to win in sports but we enjoy the competitiveness because of the framework. When you create a framework that benefits cheaters, you get the kind of behavior that you are talking about.
Yeah honestly I've reflected on this problem of morality too. What you regard as immoral can be what someone else thinks is, or they might not care. How does one do no harm and leave no impact on people that harm you, by intent or negligence? Simple answer is to avoid them, but when they have power or standing or you're forced to interact with others, sometimes unfortunately conflict is the only way. I think the answer is this: personal desire is your compass, and personal power (strength, will, money, influence) is your resource to follow it The morality of your actions as considered by others is broadly irrelevant to what YOU consider to be good and right for your own personal satisfaction. Consider how your personal corner of the world should be for you, then fight to have it where others would impose a worse reality for you to inhabit. (i.e Wanting to live peacefully and in harmony will naturally bring you into conflict with people who seek to dominate, and so it goes. Still, you're fighting for what you want.)
Here's your problem. You didn't have the self-esteem/confidence to stand up for yourself so you let others throw rocks at you while you built resentment against the world and became a victim. This built up anger is now manifesting itself
I was interested in the answer to the title. Then I read the comments. A lot of people seem to think they are smart because they can find the answer in the video. But they can't explain it or point to it. The only thing they can say is to watch it again, until you see the answer. This is, of course, nothing like cult behavior and very smart.
What question do you want answered? the current title of this video on January the 17th of 2025 is "You'd Be Surprised How Evil You (Probably) Are - A Thought Experiment That Will Change How You Think". According to other people in this comment section this channel changes the title and thumbnail of their videos quite often, so the current title seems more like a statement then a question. Personally, I don't think anyone is "good" or "evil". All people can do are preform actions, that they, or others, can later decide were good or evil/bad actions. So, the title didn't mean much to me, nor did it "Change How [I] Think", but it was still interesting to hear the way these philosophers thought, even if it was probably an extremely abridged version of their thinking.
@notquitehuman3025 trying not to do evil things makes you neutral. Succeeding in not doing evil things makes you good. Evil things are: lying, stealing, violence, hypocrisy, destroying more than you make, ignoring reality. I wanted to know what makes me evil. Tell me. Because I try not to be evil and point out evil acts. The title of the video should be: what these philosophers thought about evil. I never thought someone would ask me what the question of the title is... "you would be surprised how evil you probably are" You don't see the question here? He is going to tell me how evil I am. And he does that by saying: this philosopher says that a group of people do this. So he is not talking about people but statistics. And apparently these philosophers don't understand how humans operate. Humans want to win. Humans win mostly by cooperation. By setting the correct rules you get the best result for humanity. So far, capitalism seems to have the best rules and outcomes.
@ when I read in this comment section that this channel changes its titles frequently, I assumed your comment must have been posted when the title was different. Because "You'd Be Surprised How Evil You (Probably) Are" is a statement, and I just assumed a previous title must have been a direct question, but if I understand your comment correctly the question you wanted answered was the questions the title brings up. The Title says your "evil", you wanted to know how it came to that conclusion and the video did not answer that. I believe the video did not answer your question because, the video was never about proving or disproving its title as you yourself point out: "The title of the video should be: what these philosophers thought about evil." I agree with you. The Title of this video is very clickbaity, and your title is more accurate to what the video actually was.
When I read the comments section I see a bunch of people trying to convince themselves they’re good instead of just admitting they’re dumb and self absorbed.
Im amazed of how many smart, articulate and honest people i found in this comment section. Really wow! My take is that there is no good and evil, although we people clearly suffer from various reasons. We cause suffering to others all the time and suffer ourselves. I think we would be so much better off if we ALL followed this as an, absloute lets say, moral guideline: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.". Im from Romania and in our culture this saying is negated at both ends which kinda makes more sense to me, or at least in the context of suffering in which i brought it up.
I think you also have to examine what morality means to answer if you think humans are good or evil. Is it evil for a lion to kill a gazelle? Is it good to stop the lion from killing the gazelle, causing the lion to starve?
I don't think modern life is a poison I think it is, like penicillin, poisonous to some. Through evolution, many have been able to confirm to modern life, and fantasize about other times when rules were not as strict (not realizing that much of Morales of the individual is programmed in), they would have still been bound to the same ingrained ideas, and hated the fact that others didn't follow such. Then there are people who would thrive in older days, since they don't have similar morals to modern day. Then there are people like me.....bound by the rules of the times, and literally only that, and having anger issues due to what I had been through, the abuse that I suffered, which, if I had been born way back when, I wouldn't have had modern society beating it into my head that such things shouldn't have happened. If not for modern society, I would have grown up, pretty well adjusted. Sure, I would have had some outbursts of anger, but that would have been nothing more than yelling take destroying my favorite club (baseball bat). If back in hunter gatherer days, females probably knew better than to poke a sleeping bear, and my anger would have been saved for some idiot from a neighboring tribe. All good.
If he was born today he wouldn’t draw the same conclusions about the innate “good” within humanity. While he’s not wrong about the serious short comings of modern civilization his world view was largely shaped by subjective experience of the day. In other words good and evil are constructs of humanity. Nature does not care about an individuals subjective experience. All nature, including human subjective experience is about survival. From this perspective we can see that through human organization we have created maximum opportunity for human lives and in the process increased subjective experiences. The good, the bad and the ugly. When civilizations fail to meet the needs and expectations of the masses we reorganize civilization in an effort to sustain growth. This process is as natural as any other, it’s an observed reality in all living things. The rise and fall of life, the ebbs and flows of humanity. Thus the argument is made that “good” can only be defined by sustainability and has nothing to do with Individual experience. The sum is greater than its parts.
If you define good by sustainbility then you would agree that modern society is inherently bad since our modernized society consumes ressources at a rate not sustainable by the planet
@ Yes. It’s not sustainable and a reorganization is coming if we like it or not. That doesn’t mean human nature gives up and settles for a bygone era of existence. Humanity will do what it’s always done, reorganize and march towards growth until it’s no longer possible. No, It won’t be possible to grow forever and this is not a time for optimism.
@@angelosenteio Why would we care for it to go on forever? The ego of man is crazy thinking this will go on forever, maybe we go another million years, we will shine bright and then like all species we will go extinct. No creature avoids death or extinction. All we have is right now.
Rousseau didn't have the benefit of hundreds of years of recorded history of dealing with these morally "superior" beings. We have. While there is no-doubt beauty in the simplicity of living in nature (something Thoreau longed for as well), there were relatively few peaceful native tribes in the Americas - meaning peaceful to each other. Some resorted to human sacrifice. Many to cannibalism and virtually all to tribalism. His romantic views of history makes it no less bloody and partisan. I personally see beauty in both simplicity and the arts; in modernity and a less complex way of being. To assume one is better or worse is to keep making the same mistake we made throughout history - to draw a moral line when only a preference exists. Most things work if you let them.
Humanity is multifaceted. One cannot look through simply one or two facets while proclaiming they have seen. Add to that the prism effect and reflective mirror concept... We as individuals are limitless to benefit or to destroy others. As a collective.... We become Self-destructive.
Look around you. Do you see a desolate radiated wasteland, or do you see functional infrastructure? Assuming you're not in G.aza it's the 2nd. Yes we are capable of the first, but all combined we're more constructively cooperative than destructive.
@@justdadstuff5171I agree with @fredziffel3443 's quote's 1st part: "Humanity is multifaceted. One cannot look through simply one or two facets while proclaiming they have seen [all facets of humanity]" (added some words to re-emphasize what I believe is meant by the quote). I don't understand the 2nd part: "Add to that the prism effect and reflective mirror concept..." And I don't fully agree with the last part: "We as individuals are limitless to benefit or to destroy others. As a collective.... We become Self-destructive." I personally don't like the "limitless" aspect, but if others feel that way, its fine, but I agree that individuals can indeed be beneficial or destructive to others. I also believe that humanity as a "collective" can be self-destructive, the key word being "can be", the way @fredziffel3443 does make it sound like an inevitability. Personally, I do think the complete analyzation of humanity is within humanities wheal house, but I also think their is a chance that humanity might not whip itself out. although to your point @justdadstuff5171 I do see some radiated areas like Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant although it isn't desolate or a wasteland, but the plants and animals that live their are radiated. I do see infrastructure, but it is falling apart even in places that are considered 1st world countries. I believe the countries in the EU's infrastructure were recently graded and they pretty much all got a C grade while the US got a D grade on its infrastructure. My point is that I think humans seem to follow a path of periods of cooperatively constructiveness followed by periods of cooperatively destructiveness. Periods of enlightenment followed by periods of Dark ages, so far we have collectively gained more ground then we have lost, but all we can hope is that trend stays strong.
Leisure only comes after filling your belly. Just saying, its truth. When youre hungry, you have no time for games and wasting time. Our hunger dictates almost everything. And a hungry animal, is a dangerous one. Especially if theyre as smart and cunning as we humans are.
We are machines that require fuel. Period. If your vehicle has no fuel, it doesnt run. We are the first vehicles we learn to drive, and we know when we need fuel. Except we feel it, as the biological machines we have grown to be/ or were designed to be.
Observed recently that the many of people's anger, frustration is due to not being well fed or being fed up with empty calories diet lacking sufficient nutrients to satiate the body.
humans are fundamentally good because good is a concept we made up which is based on benevolent actions. we are only "fundmentally good" because cooperation is usually beneficial to our survival, and we strive for personal connection to fulfill our own needs, which naturally tends to be cooperation rather than chaos. and when trauma is involved which marrs what is good for us and others, that's when people say "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"
From my pov, we are all capable of evil, but what defines us is our choices and actions, both in hand and thought. We can give into the flesh or choose to battle against it for freedom from it. Yes, we all have a vessel that is used as a conduit for actions, but we are not our body nor our thoughts. We are the thing that chooses - our body is the thing that does. The intention is what makes something good or evil. Are we loving (a sacrificial thing) or hateful (a self serving thing). Do we love ourselves (agian, we are not our body or thoughts, but we are our soul). If we loved ourselves, we would do what is best for our soul (the soul being the center of our personality). It is the combination of the quality and type of heart and mind we have crafted.
I think Tolstoy thought it out a lot more than Rousseau. The problem isn't a social contract or that we have fallen from grace, the problem is what it always has been, that we continuously lie to each other, and more importantly to ourselves. And Tolstoy spent a lot of time thinking about how we lie to each other and ourselves. If you sit and think about it, you can find all the lies in your life too. You're reading this from the convenience of a computer or smartphone or other electronic device. How many people suffered to mine the minerals used to create the screen you're reading this on? Tolstoy concluded that the best way to end the lie is to live off the land and provide for yourself. And that solution resonated with people to the point that they would found their own Tolstoyan communes. When you know that you haven't stolen from anyone to put food on your plate, then you know you haven't lied to anyone to maintain your livelihood and haven't done wickedness upon your fellow man.
been there, wondering why manifesting seems to work for everyone else but not for me. i followed all the advice, but nothing seemed to click. then i read Vibrations of Manifestation by Alex Lane, and it completely shifted my perspective. chapter 3 has this one idea that changed how i see energy, and honestly, it’s been a game-changer for me.
Humans, in the vacuum of nature, are not exclusively good or bad. They're not even neither. They are ALL THAT, at the same time - good, neutral, and bad. Humans are complex, multidimensional, and also the assessment of good and bad is inherently subjective. Still, given the variability across humans, it is safe to assume that humans are essentially a mix of everything in different configurations, and that it's statistically virtually impossible for a person to be all-good, and that even extremely rotten individuals will have SOME good in them, at least occasionally. Civilisation does not change that. Civilisation is a product of the struggle between groups that cooperated, establishing the rules of the said cooperation, which would also be sometimes co-opted by nefarious individuals, or some group's perception of good would have only their group's interest as their concern and they subjugated other groups, and so on, and so forth. Civilisation is the extension of human nature, a consequence of it. Just as complex and inherently contradicting societal rules are, that is a distorted mirror image of what human nature is like.
Knowing how we treat other animals on this planet, of course we are more evil than we think. Pigs, cows, wild animals, even so called "pets" are victimized to the point we no longer recognize them as victims - they're bred, exploited, harmed, killed for our desires. The lack of empathy is real.
I'm fully aware of how evil I am. If I had unlimited power I'd either do nothing and play an observant god that might step in and smite occasionally if I was bothered or my favorite thing (whatever it might be at the time, a person, a city, a civilization) is messed with. Or, I'd just be a genocidal monster that lays waste until I get bored and revert to the previous behavior. "I would be unstoppable if I was not so sleepy."
As Confucius said, those who know virtue are few. Even Jesus rejected being called “good,” insisting that only God is good. I’d say that a tiny minority of people are evil, a tiny minority are genuinely good, and the rest could go either way depending on their environment.
This all happens because it's ironically equally rewarding to grab resource for yourself to get ahead of others and to share your resource to get along with them. The brain marks both experiences as joyful and important for survival. Thus - we are doomed for this balance.
To put it in french: Comme ci comme ça. People are people. The words good and bad are not capable of describing any one person. So to sum it up, both were right and both of them were oh, sooo wrong. We can talk about one's character or/and their intention. There are people with the best of intentions, whose interference leads to bad or even harmful results and vice versa. Things are never, could never be so straightforward.
To those who are watching this video: May 2025 bring you boundless energy, unwavering love, and profound growth in every aspect of your life-health, family, friendships, and career. Wishing you a year filled with inspiring achievements and heartfelt connections that light up your path to success!
I've legitimately found myself with some variant of Nietzsche's philosophy along with the assumption that "you are not a good person". Alright, probably. I'm probably exploiting underpaid workers and dooming future generations by minute changes in consumption and economic decisions. And don't even mention conscious greed and jealousy. But what a miracle it would be to change that circumstance! A house fire that actively puts itself out, a famine that sowed seeds in the fields! I wield my kindness to others as a weapon, a method to force them into mutual benefit under the threat of losing that kindness otherwise. A violently, aggressively kind society ought to be the best, then. All of the malice of humans with all of the benefit of community. I might not be able to force it but I can try and make it possible.
I think you need to eat meat to be healthy. I mean if you are from the USA. You are probably eating meat from farms that don't treat their animals well. Then you have the vegans who think it's evil to eat meat.
While Rousseau's view that humanity is naturally good but corrupted by civilization might seem pessimistic, this video brilliantly shows how his insights about authenticity, progress, and human nature remain deeply relevant to our modern struggles with social media, technological advancement, and the quest for genuine connection.
I beg to differ. Humans have always been bad and somewhat good at the same time. It's a mix. And we have always been this mix. Sometimes in general, it might have tipped more toward the negative than the positive. Jean-Jacques Rousseau only takes in one part of the problem. Yes, it's true that we have corrupted as civilization and technology progressed, but this it seems for humans is inevitable. Kind of like the price you have to pay for progress, I suppose. Simply because life was simple pre-civilization doesn't mean we were somehow uncorrupted or morally good. We did bad things still, but the difference was that we weren't aware of what's right and didn't care enough. All that was on our mind was mostly just survival, because living and existing itself was a luxury. Just because you are ignorant of your wrong-doings doesn't make you morally good. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was right about one thing: things were simple back then and it was easier to satisfy oneself. But those needs change and grow overtime.
Most of the people just accept the circumstances (systems) they are living in, and live their lifes. I think less people would move into another country, just for idealism...
For most older people, yes, we 100% are happier now than we would have been as a tribal human. Without mod cons, most of us would have died long ago. You are young, but - on average - you would now probably be close to the end of your lifespan in a tribal setting. So I'd argue that you are happier now than you would be in prehistoric times, but your teens were probably worse.
Isn't 10:00 just describing game theory for individual cells eventually "realizing" (not literally) that pure cooperation is better than any other option?
This just me, but according to my observations. The difference between good and evil is that good is advantageous and evil is disadvantageous to the ones that decide it.
I'm always trying to simplify my life as much as possible. The simpler my life is the happier I am without having to worry & keep track or all these outside influences. The closer we can get to our essence without all the distractions the better.
To say that humans are inherently good or evil is to say that good and evil are in fact objective terms, when they are not. Good and Evil are subjective measures which can be defined differently at different times by different people in different circumstances.
I think the answer can start to be found by going back to that whole part about how humans aren't the strongest or fastest animals, but somehow so "advantageously organized" and able to survive and influence the world as much as we do. This sucess happens in part because of collaboration with each other- we are often naturally willing and able to help others. But the success also comes from our level of selfishness and spontaneity, which lets us prioritize ourselves in times of need and take risks. So I think in evolving to survive as a species, we developed innate traits, some of which are good and some evil.
A topic that would be quite interesting to hear your perspective on that runs rather seamlessly alongside this one is the "privation theory of evil".. you can find a well-rounded summary about the topic in the Wikipedia article entitled "Absence of good"! And, whilst I'm already writing a comment anyway, I might as well add that I'm rather surprised that you didn't mention the quote from William Shakespeare that he wrote in the play Hamlet.. " there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"..
Everything that occurs, ever, anywhere within the universe, can be reduced to an equation. There is no free will, there us no good, there is no evil. Mathematically speaking, all our actions are necessary and we have no control over any of them.
In order to answer the question of "good or evil", one must have a clear definition of the words "good" and "evil". I like the following definition: good is moderation in all things, particularly virtues, while evil is their excess: It is good to want to have material things to provide for yourself and your family, while it is evil to want material things so much that you deprive others of their rightful share. It is good to love your spouse, but it is evil to kill someone out of jealousy. Being frugal is good, but not so much that you impoverish your family.
Everyone has the capacity for great good and great evil. It's awareness of your what you could do, but choosing not to. Even good people can do evil things. We have a duality to our nature. But we are the ONLY creature that has that capacity. Only humans can be actually evil. So there's that to think about. But still, we are a speck on the face of existence. For all the terrible things that go on down here there's an entire universe of ridiculously fantastic things... and none of it will last! Life is a tragic comedy and you need a dark sense of humour to get it
We are conditioned by our complex environments. We also have a genetic responses towards certain social traits like empathy and aggression. We also have rational minds should we choose to use them to decide how to respond to others. There is a qualitative difference between individual human behavior and collective social behavior. Hobbs understood this and warned: "Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools." (Leviathan, Chapter IV)
I saw rosseau Thumbnail , people i don't know what you want to , rosseau's greatest book isn't these kinda ideas ( yes is important too ) but his most important book is his autobiography ( confessions ). What a great masterpiece...
More complexity and more freedom in thought, movement and choices means more opportunity to do good or to do ill. Primitive man had a scarcity of moral decisions to make in their daily lives. We have many to make every single hour of every day. Running down an animal with your tribesman to the point where the prey is exhausted and bringing it back to your village for everyone to eat doesn't leave many chances to make a moral choice, maybe you decide to slack off a little bit and let others run harder than you, maybe you sneak a couple blueberries you find and don't intend to share. In our current year you usually have many choices to make before you eat lunch since you see way more people and your activity is far more varied. Plus the impact of your choices don't resonate very far when you stay within 20 miles of when you were born and only ever meet less than 100 people. Now one regular person can have a huge impact. Just look at anyone who for some reason decides to gun down children in an elementary school or drive their car through a crowd celebrating New Years. The farther you go up the chain in terms of power your opportunity for impact rises exponentially.
in prehistory I would have been raped 10 times before 12 years old. (I am a woman). Today I havent just because im antisocial and there are laways against rape.
Honestly I believe it's a false dichotomy. Arguing "good and evil" is such a relative thing to argue about. I could ask everyone of your opinions on what is considered "good" to you and what is considered "evil" and I'm likely to get a different response from each of you as individuals, collectively we would probably agree certain subjects are not up for debate and we would agree on a great many things as any tribe (with sharing the same values). Humans like any animal will act selfish when needing to make choices ensuring it's own survival and only when one's needs are truly met (Malow's Hierarchy of needs) one could start to consider what is most needed for the good of the tribe. There is a certain pathology that seems at least alien to my mind that in this "constant comparing" (as outlined in the video) that humans are prone to when in when being part of a large society actually leads one to seek the subjugation of others as to remove competition to oneself's power and authority and we see this pathology at an early age as "bullying" and then as an adult (corporate power and oligarchy). Indeed humans are a complex thing (animal, machine? organism, consciouses mind?) We harbor both our ideal self and outward persona as well as our shadow and mirror (or opposite self).
Humans were born w/ a little amount of needs and now that we have so many, it has become perverted by society to achieve the "American Dream" or whatever your country calls it.... We want a simpler life but choose to embed those needs into our everyday activities like eating, which has become a consumer market now and causes people to post everything they eat for status. I don't need to know what some random person ate today in another country, that doesn't effect my life in any way at all but society wants you to believe it's important because they make money from it.... Nothing has simple answers anymore and it's getting ridiculous. SMH
Everything that goes on as far as we know exists because of the dance between 'good' and 'bad', positive and negative, masculine and feminine, activity and passivity and so on... It's a beautiful crazy dance
As always, thank you all for watching. And thank you to this video's sponsor, MyHeritage. Sign up for a 14-day free trial to them here: bit.ly/PursuitofWonder_MH
You are wrong in this video specifically about the inherent nature of humanity. It is good. This may not be true in each individuals but in totality, human beings always strive towards progress, harmony and peace. It is clearly evident in the nature of our current society. Lots of people are evil but the frontier of civilization is always led with the objective of peace and progress. Evil acts and intuitions are always acted upon in secrecy or behind the curtains of power fearing moral scrutiny.
BDS
@@musicb5202 “A drowning man will always try and drag somebody down with him.” This is inherent as it gets. Is this good, or evil?
the start of the video, my answer is LESS LESS LESS, MODERN LIFE IS AMAZING, I AM CONTENT WITH MY LIFE
@@musicb5202 here's the thing, that's propaganda. think about it, you made an accident that's serious, suddenly most people think you deserve death as justified, who is evil? you or those who think they are inherently good?
Lenin once stated "Any civilization is three meals away from a violent revolution"
So many things work so perfectly to keep the world functioning that is almost a miracle that society exists at all.
Soviet Union spend a good chunk of it's lifespan and populace starving people to death yet retained control.
Lenin was also wrong. one quarter of north korea is starving to death at any given time since the early 1990s. Starving people are too weak to throw revolutions, more often than not.
Society only exists to maintain the power structure of those who are already in power. And that includes keeping the general population docile enough to not revolt.
@@JohanDanielAlvarezSanchez I may be wrong but I heard it's 9 meals. 3 missed days of food
I do not believe it is 3 meals, but without water for 3 days we would have no civilization.
Hurt people, Hurt people. Society doesn't always have the patience or time for empathy and thus creates a frustrated and lost creature looking for connection and belonging, but the creature knows not how to listen to others because no one truly listened to them. A cycle of pain can change to beauty if one understands just how much power they have by simply listening to another
True,but not everyone is capable of that,I'm an emphatic person that has run out of empathy simply because there are too many people who are broken in the head.
Yea and bad people come from bad circumstances, but they're still bad.
@@xtalpax902surely you should have more empathy for them? 😂
@oliverhopkins8074 empathy for people who are not responsible for the harms they've done is something you can still have. To act in accordance with justice and hold them responsible.
there are dozens of us !
Rousseau really said "we live in a society" unironically
but Costanza said it best
Hobbes really said "we live in a society" unironically
Some obvious things are said to lay a foundation so that all important points are on the mind of the reader. Sometimes it's easy to forget the basics when contemplating an argument or idea.
@@ethorii he didn't just "really said", he was the dude who made the line "we live in a society" sounded cool and deep.
“There is nothing very odd about lambs disliking birds of prey, but this is no reason for holding it against large birds of prey that they carry off lambs. And when the lambs whisper among themselves, 'These birds of prey are evil, and does this not give us a right to say that whatever of the opposite of a bird of prey must be good?', there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such an argument - though the birds of prey will look somewhat quizzically and say, 'Wehave nothing against these good lambs; in fact, we love them; nothing tastes better than a tender lamb.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Life isn't about being happy. It's about not being miserable.
Being content if possible
Says the guy sitting on TH-cam. Say that to the miners that get the minerals we use.
@Ramennoodlekilla used to be one of those "guys" so.. I'm old now and just happy to be so " lucky" . In relative terms not miserable.
civilisation hasn't made us evil, but people are fundamentally drawn to greed as we are biological creatures who want to survive, both on an individual and collective level
Well said. I don't like it when people naively assume most people are "good". COVID taught me that actually, humans are extremely selfish, and to quote Ripley in Aliens: "You don't see them screwing each other for a percentage. "
Well said
Thats a naïve common belief and misconception of human nature. Who told you this ?😂
@uwayn9829no, who told you it wasn’t
@uwayn9829
So you don't want to survive and to protect your family? Greed, egoism and the ability to be violent are a fundamental traits of human existence, because they helped us to stay alive, protect our families and be able to replicate. So it's a double edged sword.
If someone's thoughts are usually "evil" but their actions are usually "good", then are they a "good person" or a "bad person"? Maybe people do "good" things and"evil" things and shouldn't be simply defined as good or evil.
People aren't angels or demons. They are just people.
Good and evil are 100% subjective. They are not absolutes but fully dependant on context.
There is not a single ethical puzzle that cannot be made to lead to the opposite conclusion by adding a bit more context.
Saving a life is good. --> The person you saved is in constant agony, being awake is being tortured. Not so good anymore, eh?
Killing a baby is bad. --> Our small band of hunter-gatherers is close to starving as-is, carrying that baby through winter will kill us all. Not so bad anymore, eh?
Context is everything.
I would argue a bad person that does good things is a better person than a good person that does good things, because they have willingly chosen good over their inner nature
Same thing as bravery. You are brave because you are afraid but still do it.
Nobody has 100% pure thoughts. But your actions make you the person you are.
And for the dumb people: a positive action doesn't cancel out a bad action. Not doing a bad action is way better than doing something neutral.
If you have the choice of helping your neighbor 100 times or not stealing 1 time. Then choose not stealing 1 time. A good person does not steal but a good person can be someone who never helps their neighbor.
bro I have some of the most f'ed up thoughts that I think any brain can produce , yet I consider myself a good person since I don't act on them. I really try to expose myself enough and not keep things inside me because i keep them inside me , then Evil will grow faster than light.
People consider me trying to be funny when I make a joke. I don't. One of my friends today just said guess who's unfunny when I was just saying something when I wasn't even making a joke I suppose. I just said , I wasn't making a joke bro.
Keep yourself exposed , Maybe I have ego but I wish for the humbility of the wise tree.
I used to think I was good. I was so well behaved. Rarely inconvenienced or bothered anyone. Until last year. I did something that no one in my non-online life knows about. If known, it would destroy my whole life. I had no idea I was capable of such evil. But, it seems I am.
Since then I’ve no idea who I really am. The only solution I see is in the words of Jung, “I'd rather be whole than good”. Hopefully I can figure out how to do that.
Without some indication of what "evil" action you took, or what prompted that action, there's not enough information to actually make any sense of your comment. It's like a horoscope or fortune cookie stating, "things will change for you soon" - well duh, something is always changing therefore such a statement is always true, but is functionally just meaningless gibberish.
Also, "non-online life" is harder to linguistically process than the more common "IRL", meaning "in real life"; e.g. "I did something that no one who knows me IRL knows about."
Tell the internet what you did
What did you actually do? Please give us a hint. We are trying to understand it from your perspective.
If it's any comfort, many more people who would admit it, have done absolutely horrific things. Have I? Depends how it's defined. Either way you are not likely to be a psychopath, as they don't really have any sense of remorse. You clearly do
I can relate. It can be hard and confusing to make sense of all the parts that make you you. What has helped me somewhat is the thought that no one is inherently good or evil. Therefore I don't think anyone deserves love any more or less than the next person. Forgive yourself. Reflect on why you did what you did, and try to prevent it from happening again. Take care
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains” is the central theme of Attack on Titan.
“Man is naturally good” Fundamental mistake and easily disproven.
Disprove it
It’s not evil to not tolerate stooopidity
Oh, I know I'm evil at my core.
I've very aware that the things that keep me in check, are consequences/laws, and I always try to put myself in other's shoes.
But deep down, based on my thought and desires...I'm a messed up piece of sh*t.
At least you know your limitations. The worse ones are those who don't.
Lol hell yeah
I think there’s also something to be said that selfishness is, well at least to me, an inherent sort of evil that we all partake in constantly. It’s really eye opening when you come to the realization of how much things are about “me me me” all the time, and how that truly blinds you in a bit of a nasty way to other people. Even if you recognize some of it, there’s a vastness to this ego that pervades so much of how one can perceive the world. If something goes wrong, I know my mind immediately goes to the way I feel or how I was slighted. But it’s a fundamental selfishness. Hollow is the best way I could describe it, it does nothing for you or anyone else.
@ either everyone cares about each other and not themselves or everyone cares about themselves and not each other. What’s the difference
l we all gonna die so. Wtf
There is, fundamentally, no objective answer to whether or not anything is justified. Knowing what others believe is and isn't justified is still very useful information for guiding your own behavior.
Every organism's behaivors stem out from one simple goal, survival. Despite the complexities and differences in behaivior that we as humans along with many other animals have developed, the end and begining goal is still the same. Therefore we can conclude that no one and nothing is 'good' or 'bad' because these are beliefs derived from belief in the consept of right and wrong which was developed as the 'social contract' mentioned in the video, a means to maintain order in the societies we formed after we decided that they where nessecary for our survival. Even within our own societies we are all just products of circumstance, environment, past experiences and many other factors that contribute the forming of behaivoral patterns most optimal to survive based on the previously stated factors.
That there is no objective answer does not imply that it is entirely a matter of taste.
@@MrBoxinaboxinabox How so?
@MrBoxinaboxinabox
If there’s no objective answer then that only leaves subjective answers, or “matters of taste” as you’ve so inelegantly put it.
Looking at “ancient” history showed me that most humans are wicked.
Wicked is ultimately subjective. It’s easy to say that a tribe who had to viciously kill members of a threatening neighboring tribe (Israelites vs. Canaanites anyone? Probably not because that’s in the Bible and was condoned/commanded by “God”. See how that works?) were “wicked” from the modern comforts of your 21st century life.
Honestly I use to be a "do no harm, leave no negative impact" kind of human and always have been but having people target me for harassment, steal from me, use me and dog me out at random has made me literally violent.
I started smacking men for talking crazy to me, I get aggressive when people get aggressive with me, I seek revenge instead of turning the other cheek. And I absolutely hate it.
I miss when I believed the world was kind and when I believed most people where good people. I genuinely used to believe that something had to trigger evil in people but now I see people are just like that. Most people have I'll intentions, most people will do you wrong and most of the time it's best to just avoid others entirely. I hate it and it feels wrong but it's reality.
Be a POS cause people are going to treat you like one regardless.
Read Human Action from Mises. Humans react to frameworks. We all want to win in sports but we enjoy the competitiveness because of the framework. When you create a framework that benefits cheaters, you get the kind of behavior that you are talking about.
Brother (or in this case, sister) you need to start mentally checking yourself ig.
Yeah honestly I've reflected on this problem of morality too. What you regard as immoral can be what someone else thinks is, or they might not care. How does one do no harm and leave no impact on people that harm you, by intent or negligence? Simple answer is to avoid them, but when they have power or standing or you're forced to interact with others, sometimes unfortunately conflict is the only way.
I think the answer is this: personal desire is your compass, and personal power (strength, will, money, influence) is your resource to follow it
The morality of your actions as considered by others is broadly irrelevant to what YOU consider to be good and right for your own personal satisfaction. Consider how your personal corner of the world should be for you, then fight to have it where others would impose a worse reality for you to inhabit.
(i.e Wanting to live peacefully and in harmony will naturally bring you into conflict with people who seek to dominate, and so it goes. Still, you're fighting for what you want.)
@ "cheating" is subjective because the rules are subjective, so we still have some huge issues to deal with
Here's your problem. You didn't have the self-esteem/confidence to stand up for yourself so you let others throw rocks at you while you built resentment against the world and became a victim. This built up anger is now manifesting itself
I was interested in the answer to the title. Then I read the comments. A lot of people seem to think they are smart because they can find the answer in the video. But they can't explain it or point to it. The only thing they can say is to watch it again, until you see the answer.
This is, of course, nothing like cult behavior and very smart.
What question do you want answered? the current title of this video on January the 17th of 2025 is "You'd Be Surprised How Evil You (Probably) Are - A Thought Experiment That Will Change How You Think". According to other people in this comment section this channel changes the title and thumbnail of their videos quite often, so the current title seems more like a statement then a question.
Personally, I don't think anyone is "good" or "evil". All people can do are preform actions, that they, or others, can later decide were good or evil/bad actions. So, the title didn't mean much to me, nor did it "Change How [I] Think", but it was still interesting to hear the way these philosophers thought, even if it was probably an extremely abridged version of their thinking.
@notquitehuman3025 trying not to do evil things makes you neutral. Succeeding in not doing evil things makes you good. Evil things are: lying, stealing, violence, hypocrisy, destroying more than you make, ignoring reality.
I wanted to know what makes me evil. Tell me. Because I try not to be evil and point out evil acts. The title of the video should be: what these philosophers thought about evil.
I never thought someone would ask me what the question of the title is... "you would be surprised how evil you probably are"
You don't see the question here? He is going to tell me how evil I am. And he does that by saying: this philosopher says that a group of people do this. So he is not talking about people but statistics. And apparently these philosophers don't understand how humans operate. Humans want to win. Humans win mostly by cooperation. By setting the correct rules you get the best result for humanity. So far, capitalism seems to have the best rules and outcomes.
@ when I read in this comment section that this channel changes its titles frequently, I assumed your comment must have been posted when the title was different. Because "You'd Be Surprised How Evil You (Probably) Are" is a statement, and I just assumed a previous title must have been a direct question, but if I understand your comment correctly the question you wanted answered was the questions the title brings up. The Title says your "evil", you wanted to know how it came to that conclusion and the video did not answer that. I believe the video did not answer your question because, the video was never about proving or disproving its title as you yourself point out:
"The title of the video should be: what these philosophers thought about evil."
I agree with you. The Title of this video is very clickbaity, and your title is more accurate to what the video actually was.
When I read the comments section I see a bunch of people trying to convince themselves they’re good instead of just admitting they’re dumb and self absorbed.
Im amazed of how many smart, articulate and honest people i found in this comment section. Really wow! My take is that there is no good and evil, although we people clearly suffer from various reasons. We cause suffering to others all the time and suffer ourselves. I think we would be so much better off if we ALL followed this as an, absloute lets say, moral guideline: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.". Im from Romania and in our culture this saying is negated at both ends which kinda makes more sense to me, or at least in the context of suffering in which i brought it up.
I think you also have to examine what morality means to answer if you think humans are good or evil.
Is it evil for a lion to kill a gazelle? Is it good to stop the lion from killing the gazelle, causing the lion to starve?
I don't think modern life is a poison
I think it is, like penicillin, poisonous to some.
Through evolution, many have been able to confirm to modern life, and fantasize about other times when rules were not as strict (not realizing that much of Morales of the individual is programmed in), they would have still been bound to the same ingrained ideas, and hated the fact that others didn't follow such.
Then there are people who would thrive in older days, since they don't have similar morals to modern day.
Then there are people like me.....bound by the rules of the times, and literally only that, and having anger issues due to what I had been through, the abuse that I suffered, which, if I had been born way back when, I wouldn't have had modern society beating it into my head that such things shouldn't have happened. If not for modern society, I would have grown up, pretty well adjusted. Sure, I would have had some outbursts of anger, but that would have been nothing more than yelling take destroying my favorite club (baseball bat). If back in hunter gatherer days, females probably knew better than to poke a sleeping bear, and my anger would have been saved for some idiot from a neighboring tribe. All good.
I'm a very good person, but occasionally I have to do what a very bad person would do.
Morally? Because morality changes and quite rapidly on todays standards
X
If he was born today he wouldn’t draw the same conclusions about the innate “good” within humanity. While he’s not wrong about the serious short comings of modern civilization his world view was largely shaped by subjective experience of the day. In other words good and evil are constructs of humanity. Nature does not care about an individuals subjective experience. All nature, including human subjective experience is about survival. From this perspective we can see that through human organization we have created maximum opportunity for human lives and in the process increased subjective experiences. The good, the bad and the ugly. When civilizations fail to meet the needs and expectations of the masses we reorganize civilization in an effort to sustain growth. This process is as natural as any other, it’s an observed reality in all living things. The rise and fall of life, the ebbs and flows of humanity. Thus the argument is made that “good” can only be defined by sustainability and has nothing to do with Individual experience. The sum is greater than its parts.
If you define good by sustainbility then you would agree that modern society is inherently bad since our modernized society consumes ressources at a rate not sustainable by the planet
@ Yes. It’s not sustainable and a reorganization is coming if we like it or not. That doesn’t mean human nature gives up and settles for a bygone era of existence. Humanity will do what it’s always done, reorganize and march towards growth until it’s no longer possible. No, It won’t be possible to grow forever and this is not a time for optimism.
@@angelosenteio Why would we care for it to go on forever? The ego of man is crazy thinking this will go on forever, maybe we go another million years, we will shine bright and then like all species we will go extinct. No creature avoids death or extinction. All we have is right now.
Rousseau didn't have the benefit of hundreds of years of recorded history of dealing with these morally "superior" beings. We have. While there is no-doubt beauty in the simplicity of living in nature (something Thoreau longed for as well), there were relatively few peaceful native tribes in the Americas - meaning peaceful to each other. Some resorted to human sacrifice. Many to cannibalism and virtually all to tribalism. His romantic views of history makes it no less bloody and partisan. I personally see beauty in both simplicity and the arts; in modernity and a less complex way of being. To assume one is better or worse is to keep making the same mistake we made throughout history - to draw a moral line when only a preference exists. Most things work if you let them.
Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
wow!
0:10 my broer i thought he was packing 💀🙏🏽❌️
😂
“broer” is mine now. Much appreciated
🇿🇦
Lekker!
@@pettyaf89 it's South African bru
Humanity is multifaceted. One cannot look through simply one or two facets while proclaiming they have seen. Add to that the prism effect and reflective mirror concept... We as individuals are limitless to benefit or to destroy others. As a collective.... We become Self-destructive.
Look around you. Do you see a desolate radiated wasteland, or do you see functional infrastructure? Assuming you're not in G.aza it's the 2nd. Yes we are capable of the first, but all combined we're more constructively cooperative than destructive.
@@justdadstuff5171finally, someone not spouting hyperbolic pretentious drivel
@@justdadstuff5171I agree with @fredziffel3443 's quote's 1st part: "Humanity is multifaceted. One cannot look through simply one or two facets while proclaiming they have seen [all facets of humanity]" (added some words to re-emphasize what I believe is meant by the quote).
I don't understand the 2nd part: "Add to that the prism effect and reflective mirror concept..."
And I don't fully agree with the last part: "We as individuals are limitless to benefit or to destroy others. As a collective.... We become Self-destructive." I personally don't like the "limitless" aspect, but if others feel that way, its fine, but I agree that individuals can indeed be beneficial or destructive to others. I also believe that humanity as a "collective" can be self-destructive, the key word being "can be", the way @fredziffel3443 does make it sound like an inevitability. Personally, I do think the complete analyzation of humanity is within humanities wheal house, but I also think their is a chance that humanity might not whip itself out.
although to your point @justdadstuff5171 I do see some radiated areas like Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant although it isn't desolate or a wasteland, but the plants and animals that live their are radiated. I do see infrastructure, but it is falling apart even in places that are considered 1st world countries. I believe the countries in the EU's infrastructure were recently graded and they pretty much all got a C grade while the US got a D grade on its infrastructure. My point is that I think humans seem to follow a path of periods of cooperatively constructiveness followed by periods of cooperatively destructiveness. Periods of enlightenment followed by periods of Dark ages, so far we have collectively gained more ground then we have lost, but all we can hope is that trend stays strong.
I miss the philosophical storytelling of lives of some fictional characters maaaaan...🥺🥺
Leisure only comes after filling your belly.
Just saying, its truth.
When youre hungry, you have no time for games and wasting time.
Our hunger dictates almost everything.
And a hungry animal, is a dangerous one. Especially if theyre as smart and cunning as we humans are.
We are machines that require fuel.
Period. If your vehicle has no fuel, it doesnt run. We are the first vehicles we learn to drive, and we know when we need fuel. Except we feel it, as the biological machines we have grown to be/ or were designed to be.
Observed recently that the many of people's anger, frustration is due to not being well fed or being fed up with empty calories diet lacking sufficient nutrients to satiate the body.
Was Rousseau the first to invent the trope of the noble savage?
Maybe, Swift had it as well. I wonder what it was like walking around being as f***ing dumb as both those men were.
humans are fundamentally good because good is a concept we made up which is based on benevolent actions. we are only "fundmentally good" because cooperation is usually beneficial to our survival, and we strive for personal connection to fulfill our own needs, which naturally tends to be cooperation rather than chaos. and when trauma is involved which marrs what is good for us and others, that's when people say "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"
If only Rousseau had lived long enough to see what people choose to do with their freedom, to see what kings the people chose for themselves
From my pov, we are all capable of evil, but what defines us is our choices and actions, both in hand and thought. We can give into the flesh or choose to battle against it for freedom from it. Yes, we all have a vessel that is used as a conduit for actions, but we are not our body nor our thoughts. We are the thing that chooses - our body is the thing that does. The intention is what makes something good or evil. Are we loving (a sacrificial thing) or hateful (a self serving thing). Do we love ourselves (agian, we are not our body or thoughts, but we are our soul). If we loved ourselves, we would do what is best for our soul (the soul being the center of our personality). It is the combination of the quality and type of heart and mind we have crafted.
At least in the world depicted at the beginning, your problems are your problems, not someone else's problems you have to deal with.
Well said in a nutshell.
Jokes on both Rousseau and Hobbes, because we’ve got existential dread in both settings, just that one has nicer lighting.
I’m actually quite evil. Not “probably” definitely. But shhh, don’t let the infidels know!
Civilization and civilized are two very different concepts.
I think Tolstoy thought it out a lot more than Rousseau. The problem isn't a social contract or that we have fallen from grace, the problem is what it always has been, that we continuously lie to each other, and more importantly to ourselves. And Tolstoy spent a lot of time thinking about how we lie to each other and ourselves. If you sit and think about it, you can find all the lies in your life too. You're reading this from the convenience of a computer or smartphone or other electronic device. How many people suffered to mine the minerals used to create the screen you're reading this on?
Tolstoy concluded that the best way to end the lie is to live off the land and provide for yourself. And that solution resonated with people to the point that they would found their own Tolstoyan communes. When you know that you haven't stolen from anyone to put food on your plate, then you know you haven't lied to anyone to maintain your livelihood and haven't done wickedness upon your fellow man.
Hell no. I know what a monster I am. But, I don't have an inside desire to hurt other people. Thats better than some, I guess.
Good and bad are illusions designed to protect the ego.
Man I like Pursuit of Wonder but im getting a little tired of them telling us how bad of a person we actually are every other video
been there, wondering why manifesting seems to work for everyone else but not for me. i followed all the advice, but nothing seemed to click. then i read Vibrations of Manifestation by Alex Lane, and it completely shifted my perspective. chapter 3 has this one idea that changed how i see energy, and honestly, it’s been a game-changer for me.
Good and evil are perspectives, in the end the gene is selfish but in abundance it may share with someone else.
That... Did not change the way I think, in a way more than negligible
(I probably internalised all of the relevant perspectives already lol)
Humans, in the vacuum of nature, are not exclusively good or bad. They're not even neither. They are ALL THAT, at the same time - good, neutral, and bad. Humans are complex, multidimensional, and also the assessment of good and bad is inherently subjective. Still, given the variability across humans, it is safe to assume that humans are essentially a mix of everything in different configurations, and that it's statistically virtually impossible for a person to be all-good, and that even extremely rotten individuals will have SOME good in them, at least occasionally. Civilisation does not change that. Civilisation is a product of the struggle between groups that cooperated, establishing the rules of the said cooperation, which would also be sometimes co-opted by nefarious individuals, or some group's perception of good would have only their group's interest as their concern and they subjugated other groups, and so on, and so forth. Civilisation is the extension of human nature, a consequence of it. Just as complex and inherently contradicting societal rules are, that is a distorted mirror image of what human nature is like.
well, definition of evil that I work with, it's selfishness
Successful people are selfish. They focus on their own lives to be the best version of themselves. Bit sad to call that evil.
Most morals and concepts of good and evil are subjective, not objective truths.
The universe seeks equilibrium. Wherever inequality exists so too will an agency to equalize it
Knowing how we treat other animals on this planet, of course we are more evil than we think. Pigs, cows, wild animals, even so called "pets" are victimized to the point we no longer recognize them as victims - they're bred, exploited, harmed, killed for our desires. The lack of empathy is real.
Agreed, “good” And “evil” Are very vague general terms
So, you’re victimizing your pets? 😧
I'm fully aware of how evil I am. If I had unlimited power I'd either do nothing and play an observant god that might step in and smite occasionally if I was bothered or my favorite thing (whatever it might be at the time, a person, a city, a civilization) is messed with. Or, I'd just be a genocidal monster that lays waste until I get bored and revert to the previous behavior.
"I would be unstoppable if I was not so sleepy."
I'm evil, and that doesn't bother me. I'm also loving, and that causes me pain.
Theirs always the fear, fear of hunger, lowliness, death and others. But when we over come 'Power will always corrupt absolutely'.
As Confucius said, those who know virtue are few. Even Jesus rejected being called “good,” insisting that only God is good. I’d say that a tiny minority of people are evil, a tiny minority are genuinely good, and the rest could go either way depending on their environment.
This all happens because it's ironically equally rewarding to grab resource for yourself to get ahead of others and to share your resource to get along with them. The brain marks both experiences as joyful and important for survival. Thus - we are doomed for this balance.
To put it in french: Comme ci comme ça. People are people. The words good and bad are not capable of describing any one person. So to sum it up, both were right and both of them were oh, sooo wrong. We can talk about one's character or/and their intention. There are people with the best of intentions, whose interference leads to bad or even harmful results and vice versa. Things are never, could never be so straightforward.
Your choice of topics and your scripts are amazing and insightful. Love your presentation. I am a fan!
To those who are watching this video: May 2025 bring you boundless energy, unwavering love, and profound growth in every aspect of your life-health, family, friendships, and career. Wishing you a year filled with inspiring achievements and heartfelt connections that light up your path to success!
I've legitimately found myself with some variant of Nietzsche's philosophy along with the assumption that "you are not a good person". Alright, probably. I'm probably exploiting underpaid workers and dooming future generations by minute changes in consumption and economic decisions. And don't even mention conscious greed and jealousy. But what a miracle it would be to change that circumstance! A house fire that actively puts itself out, a famine that sowed seeds in the fields! I wield my kindness to others as a weapon, a method to force them into mutual benefit under the threat of losing that kindness otherwise. A violently, aggressively kind society ought to be the best, then. All of the malice of humans with all of the benefit of community. I might not be able to force it but I can try and make it possible.
I think you need to eat meat to be healthy. I mean if you are from the USA. You are probably eating meat from farms that don't treat their animals well. Then you have the vegans who think it's evil to eat meat.
While Rousseau's view that humanity is naturally good but corrupted by civilization might seem pessimistic, this video brilliantly shows how his insights about authenticity, progress, and human nature remain deeply relevant to our modern struggles with social media, technological advancement, and the quest for genuine connection.
I beg to differ. Humans have always been bad and somewhat good at the same time. It's a mix. And we have always been this mix. Sometimes in general, it might have tipped more toward the negative than the positive.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau only takes in one part of the problem. Yes, it's true that we have corrupted as civilization and technology progressed, but this it seems for humans is inevitable. Kind of like the price you have to pay for progress, I suppose. Simply because life was simple pre-civilization doesn't mean we were somehow uncorrupted or morally good. We did bad things still, but the difference was that we weren't aware of what's right and didn't care enough. All that was on our mind was mostly just survival, because living and existing itself was a luxury.
Just because you are ignorant of your wrong-doings doesn't make you morally good. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was right about one thing: things were simple back then and it was easier to satisfy oneself. But those needs change and grow overtime.
No laws? In a tribal society? No governance, no systems? ...what?
Most of the people just accept the circumstances (systems) they are living in, and live their lifes. I think less people would move into another country, just for idealism...
We look to a bad past when improvement was happening while we discard a good present that shows a lack of improvement.
For most older people, yes, we 100% are happier now than we would have been as a tribal human. Without mod cons, most of us would have died long ago. You are young, but - on average - you would now probably be close to the end of your lifespan in a tribal setting. So I'd argue that you are happier now than you would be in prehistoric times, but your teens were probably worse.
Isn't 10:00 just describing game theory for individual cells eventually "realizing" (not literally) that pure cooperation is better than any other option?
posting before I am through the first minute... is this another video on the Milgrim Experiment?
How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally. How ba-a-a-ad can I be? How bad ciuld I possibly be?
Humans do good. Humans do evil. Humans do amazing things.
This just me, but according to my observations. The difference between good and evil is that good is advantageous and evil is disadvantageous to the ones that decide it.
I'm always trying to simplify my life as much as possible. The simpler my life is the happier I am without having to worry & keep track or all these outside influences. The closer we can get to our essence without all the distractions the better.
To say that humans are inherently good or evil is to say that good and evil are in fact objective terms, when they are not. Good and Evil are subjective measures which can be defined differently at different times by different people in different circumstances.
I think the answer can start to be found by going back to that whole part about how humans aren't the strongest or fastest animals, but somehow so "advantageously organized" and able to survive and influence the world as much as we do. This sucess happens in part because of collaboration with each other- we are often naturally willing and able to help others. But the success also comes from our level of selfishness and spontaneity, which lets us prioritize ourselves in times of need and take risks. So I think in evolving to survive as a species, we developed innate traits, some of which are good and some evil.
Thank you for the video
A topic that would be quite interesting to hear your perspective on that runs rather seamlessly alongside this one is the "privation theory of evil".. you can find a well-rounded summary about the topic in the Wikipedia article entitled "Absence of good"! And, whilst I'm already writing a comment anyway, I might as well add that I'm rather surprised that you didn't mention the quote from William Shakespeare that he wrote in the play Hamlet.. " there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"..
"Yeah yeah and I'm alright
I took a sip of something poison, but I'll hold on tight" - Helena Beat
Can you tell me how many guys are working in your team for the channel? Love your content.
definitely at least 1 person
@@SetariMat the most
Everything that occurs, ever, anywhere within the universe, can be reduced to an equation. There is no free will, there us no good, there is no evil. Mathematically speaking, all our actions are necessary and we have no control over any of them.
THANKS FOR THE AUDIO AND TEXT TRANSLATION!! :D :D
In order to answer the question of "good or evil", one must have a clear definition of the words "good" and "evil".
I like the following definition: good is moderation in all things, particularly virtues, while evil is their excess:
It is good to want to have material things to provide for yourself and your family, while it is evil to want material things so much that you deprive others of their rightful share.
It is good to love your spouse, but it is evil to kill someone out of jealousy.
Being frugal is good, but not so much that you impoverish your family.
This one was, imo, particularly beautiful. Thanks!
You just donated $100,000.00??? 😳
@Move_I_Got_This-b3v it's COP. Make the conversion to USD, and sorry for disappointing
@Move_I_Got_This-b3v Donated COP. It's like 20 USD
It's COP. Like 20 USD equiv.
Thanks so much. Happy you enjoyed it!
Many people do not know that they are God. The whole existence is.
All things are contained within the human experience. You choose.
"Fewer concerns" hahahahaha. One Smilodon is all the concern you need ;)
Everyone has the capacity for great good and great evil. It's awareness of your what you could do, but choosing not to. Even good people can do evil things. We have a duality to our nature.
But we are the ONLY creature that has that capacity. Only humans can be actually evil. So there's that to think about.
But still, we are a speck on the face of existence. For all the terrible things that go on down here there's an entire universe of ridiculously fantastic things... and none of it will last!
Life is a tragic comedy and you need a dark sense of humour to get it
We are conditioned by our complex environments. We also have a genetic responses towards certain social traits like empathy and aggression.
We also have rational minds should we choose to use them to decide how to respond to others.
There is a qualitative difference between individual human behavior and collective social behavior.
Hobbs understood this and warned:
"Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools." (Leviathan, Chapter IV)
I know how evil I am...
I know how good I am...
There is no only one or another.
I am, in fact, not surprised 👀😭
It’s not clickbait, a beautifully crafted piece of content it is.
Humanity is. Through all the negative, I still approve
The moral of the story: The French.
I saw rosseau Thumbnail , people i don't know what you want to , rosseau's greatest book isn't these kinda ideas ( yes is important too ) but his most important book is his autobiography ( confessions ).
What a great masterpiece...
More complexity and more freedom in thought, movement and choices means more opportunity to do good or to do ill. Primitive man had a scarcity of moral decisions to make in their daily lives. We have many to make every single hour of every day. Running down an animal with your tribesman to the point where the prey is exhausted and bringing it back to your village for everyone to eat doesn't leave many chances to make a moral choice, maybe you decide to slack off a little bit and let others run harder than you, maybe you sneak a couple blueberries you find and don't intend to share. In our current year you usually have many choices to make before you eat lunch since you see way more people and your activity is far more varied. Plus the impact of your choices don't resonate very far when you stay within 20 miles of when you were born and only ever meet less than 100 people. Now one regular person can have a huge impact. Just look at anyone who for some reason decides to gun down children in an elementary school or drive their car through a crowd celebrating New Years. The farther you go up the chain in terms of power your opportunity for impact rises exponentially.
in prehistory I would have been raped 10 times before 12 years old. (I am a woman). Today I havent just because im antisocial and there are laways against rape.
Honestly I believe it's a false dichotomy. Arguing "good and evil" is such a relative thing to argue about. I could ask everyone of your opinions on what is considered "good" to you and what is considered "evil" and I'm likely to get a different response from each of you as individuals, collectively we would probably agree certain subjects are not up for debate and we would agree on a great many things as any tribe (with sharing the same values). Humans like any animal will act selfish when needing to make choices ensuring it's own survival and only when one's needs are truly met (Malow's Hierarchy of needs) one could start to consider what is most needed for the good of the tribe. There is a certain pathology that seems at least alien to my mind that in this "constant comparing" (as outlined in the video) that humans are prone to when in when being part of a large society actually leads one to seek the subjugation of others as to remove competition to oneself's power and authority and we see this pathology at an early age as "bullying" and then as an adult (corporate power and oligarchy).
Indeed humans are a complex thing (animal, machine? organism, consciouses mind?) We harbor both our ideal self and outward persona as well as our shadow and mirror (or opposite self).
Always very excellent content on this channel, thank you.
Humans were born w/ a little amount of needs and now that we have so many, it has become perverted by society to achieve the "American Dream" or whatever your country calls it.... We want a simpler life but choose to embed those needs into our everyday activities like eating, which has become a consumer market now and causes people to post everything they eat for status. I don't need to know what some random person ate today in another country, that doesn't effect my life in any way at all but society wants you to believe it's important because they make money from it.... Nothing has simple answers anymore and it's getting ridiculous. SMH
Modern scientific progress can create a utopia for the few, and they dystopia for many.
people are not a monolith. Some tend to be good, others are too stupid or weak to be good.
Everything that goes on as far as we know exists because of the dance between 'good' and 'bad', positive and negative, masculine and feminine, activity and passivity and so on... It's a beautiful crazy dance
The line between good and evil in each one of us is definitely always shifting...
Deprived of 9 square meals and you'd see anyone turn monstrous at a moments notice.
What does heart has anything to do with evil?