MiskatonicGrad Posted August 12, 2013 #1 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Are we as a race insane? As a follower of history I have seen a striking pattern emerge namely "we as a race keep doing the same stupid stuff and expect a different result!" Any history teacher will tell you empires go through certain cycles that lead to their downfall and they all go through the EXACT same cycles. If you do a side-by-side comparison of the roman empire during it's decline say 200 AD to 400 AD and USA right now you would scratch you head a wonder the same thing. So again are we Insane or just stupid and can't learn from history? 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSouls7 Posted August 12, 2013 #2 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Yes I must say the human race IS insane.. they all dress and have the same hair cut.. and think the same... they should all think freely.. and openly without limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaginarynumber1 Posted August 12, 2013 #3 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Yes. I mean, no! Wait! I mean maybe! Or no? Yes! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHO U KIDDIN Posted August 12, 2013 #4 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Borrowing from AT and Ron White, YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose quatz Posted August 12, 2013 #5 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I have to say that to be fare you shouldnt generalize, and say that its just the usa that cant learn from history, I would say that goes for most of the western world. And that your theory of every empire having a cycle is interesting. I personally think that its like the natural order of things, and that sometimes you have to distroy one thing to make another. Eventually everything stagnates, and is replaced by something else. But to ask if we are insane for repeating the process over and over again, I dont think so, I think its our human nature to get bored and want to change things or fix things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nighthawk9653 Posted August 13, 2013 #6 Share Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Could be. Isn't insane doing the same thing over and over again, and getting the same result but expecting different results? Than yes. If I've learned anything, it is that almost everybody you meet will say they hated history class, they hated social studies, whatever. Personally, I love history and social studies. And maybe if you knew the past, you could so easily predict the future. And MAYBE if the leaders knew what happened then, they could change things now so history never needed to repeat. That's what they say, isn't it? That history repeats itself. Sadly though, us who have studied the past aren't usually in those positions of power, so we're doomed to sit and watch the human race make the same mistakes over again. Edited August 13, 2013 by Nighthawk9653 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReaperS_ParadoX Posted August 13, 2013 #7 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I say YES the human race is insane, hell most of my family members are insane. They constantly do the same thing and wonder why the results are always the damn same 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted August 13, 2013 #8 Share Posted August 13, 2013 The human race is the only standard for sanity we have, and insanity is behavior that significantly deviates from the norm for pathological reasons. Therefore the human race, by definition, is not insane. I would allow "crazy" though. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Professor T Posted August 13, 2013 Popular Post #9 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Are we as a race insane? As a follower of history I have seen a striking pattern emerge namely "we as a race keep doing the same stupid stuff and expect a different result!" The Insanity IMO comes from the authorities, not the human race it's self.. The only insane thing about the rest of us is this mad assumption that the authorities in power have power, the reality is we give it them. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReaperS_ParadoX Posted August 13, 2013 #10 Share Posted August 13, 2013 The Insanity IMO comes from the authorities, not the human race it's self.. The only insane thing about the rest of us is this mad assumption that the authorities in power have power, the reality is we give it them. Well said 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docyabut2 Posted August 13, 2013 #11 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Terrorists bought down the Roman government, but don `nt worry we still have our guns:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted August 13, 2013 #12 Share Posted August 13, 2013 The human race is the only standard for sanity we have, and insanity is behavior that significantly deviates from the norm for pathological reasons. Therefore the human race, by definition, is not insane. I would allow "crazy" though. For argument's sake, Frank, I would say human behavior that deviates from the norm is sanity. Therefore the human race, by definition, is insane. I actually believe this from all the empirical evidence I have gathered over a long lifetime. Since the realization of this fact doesn't seem a cure for our mutual insanity, the human race may be doomed to continue its collective psychosis. Also, since psychiatrists consider the norm as sanity, as you infer they do, our psychiatrists are doubly insane, as even these experts on mental health cannot recognize insanity when they see it, even in themselves. This is a bad situation for us to be in, as not only are the inmates in charge of the asylum, the doctors are inmates as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odin11 Posted August 13, 2013 #13 Share Posted August 13, 2013 From Men in Black but I think its true. Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it. Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud the mackem Posted August 13, 2013 #14 Share Posted August 13, 2013 The Insanity IMO comes from the authorities, not the human race it's self.. The only insane thing about the rest of us is this mad assumption that the authorities in power have power, the reality is we give it them. So we must be insane for giving them power. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
born2run Posted August 13, 2013 #15 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Work as a "mental health practioner" for say 10 yrs., and then ask yourself the same question and I'll bet you dollars to donuts, you'll have a totally different answer almost every day you are involvd with "psych. patients", either hospital or community based treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted August 13, 2013 #16 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Work as a "mental health practioner" for say 10 yrs., and then ask yourself the same question and I'll bet you dollars to donuts, you'll have a totally different answer almost every day you are involvd with "psych. patients", either hospital or community based treatment. Absolutely, I work with people with dementia and I could never give the same answer...it depends on the kind of shift I had. BUT to me our insanity doesn't come from not learning from our mistakes, but from our 'instinctive' love for self destruction: through drugs, eating rubbish, smoking, atomic weapons, wars, pollution, killing forests, exterminating essential animals like bees.....I could go on and on and on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor T Posted August 13, 2013 #17 Share Posted August 13, 2013 So we must be insane for giving them power. More like deceived, repressed and naive.. Most people don't understand that in truth there is no greater authority than themselves.. Instead, we are indoctrinated taught that these authorities are our leaders and their will should be followed, unquestioned, like Gospel. The nature of these false authorities is the insanity of the world. We give away our power when we believe in these authorities, and we are lead to believe there is no alternative to our current hierarchical system.. Sure there are rules that one must adhere too, but less is more.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReaperS_ParadoX Posted August 13, 2013 #18 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I have to say that to be fare you shouldnt generalize, and say that its just the usa that cant learn from history, I would say that goes for most of the western world. And that your theory of every empire having a cycle is interesting. I personally think that its like the natural order of things, and that sometimes you have to distroy one thing to make another. Eventually everything stagnates, and is replaced by something else. But to ask if we are insane for repeating the process over and over again, I dont think so, I think its our human nature to get bored and want to change things or fix things. But the fact is that we may "fix" or change things yet it always resorts back to what it was its just different names and places and people, but the end results always the same thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacsMom Posted August 13, 2013 #19 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Short answer.......yes. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Crane Feather Posted August 13, 2013 #20 Share Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Are we as a race insane? As a follower of history I have seen a striking pattern emerge namely "we as a race keep doing the same stupid stuff and expect a different result!" Any history teacher will tell you empires go through certain cycles that lead to their downfall and they all go through the EXACT same cycles. If you do a side-by-side comparison of the roman empire during it's decline say 200 AD to 400 AD and USA right now you would scratch you head a wonder the same thing. So again are we Insane or just stupid and can't learn from history? Yes..... we are. Collective patterns in most of our modern societies emerge as a whole what would be considered insane in a single human being. Read " The Undiscovered Self"--- C.G Jung One of the founders of psychology. "A neurotic illness anlways implies an unadapted alteration and distortion of normal dynamisms and of the "imagination" proper to them." Edited August 13, 2013 by White Crane Feather 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdesert50 Posted August 13, 2013 #21 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Can we predict the future based on past data? Statistically we can given probabilistic confidence levels. The real question is do we want to learn from the past? Effective learning implies change, perhaps a change in existing behavior. And, how many people will voluntarily change or can even deal well with the notion of change? Referencing again from a statistical perspective, and given the normal distribution of the population; for the half of the population that is above average in intelligence, there is another half that is below average. That indeed has inevitable ramifications when addressing the need to change even when supported by the preponderance of evidence. Is that insanity? No, it may merely be stupidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRIPTIC CHAMELEON Posted August 13, 2013 #22 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Hmm are we insane, good question I think the former mental patient who now has a gun license can probably answer that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted August 13, 2013 #23 Share Posted August 13, 2013 No. I do not think our race is insane. See, from a historical perspective, despite many technological and scientific advancements (for our time anyways) we are still quite primitive. We are also stubborn to boot. I think our collective minds have not kept up with our physical evolution/adaptations so we basically still have the mindset of baboons and still think that a big club and loud screams gets us what we want and if not we hit harder and scream louder. Just because we have iPods, computers and can travel from one continent to another in less than a day doesn't mean we are evolved to the point that we can still exist in neutrality despite collective differences. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallidin Posted August 13, 2013 #24 Share Posted August 13, 2013 According to my psychiatrist ( ) we are all "insane", it's just a matter of "degree" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremiah65 Posted August 13, 2013 #25 Share Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Let's see.... Decadent, debaucherous, self serving, self destructive, sociopathic and psychopathic... Yep.... I'd say that is confirmation.... Edited August 13, 2013 by Jeremiah65 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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