Misanthropy General

[Anonymous No.3229243]

This is my first time posting here, but there is a question that has been rattling around in my mind for months.

Why is it that someone like myself, a well adjusted middle class white male, that experienced a nurturing, trauma-less upbringing would grow to hold a deeply seated hatred for my own species?

i have meaningful relationships with the people around me, and a solid group of friends, but when i think about humanity, all that comes to mind is our tendency towards anthropocentrism and the disregard of the millions of other lifeforms that inhabit our earth.

Literally, if given the chance, i would exterminate mankind, including myself without hesitation.

are these sentiments common among the scientific community?

[Anonymous No.3229279]

Join the green anarchists.
Fuck trees.
Success will be had.

[Anonymous No.3229287]

Welcome to the club, but why would you extinguish mankind? Why not just let him exist?

Also, you are a result of your experiences, experiences do not have to be traumatic to shape belief

[Anonymous No.3229288]

>hold a deeply seated hatred for my own species
>i would exterminate mankind, including myself without hesitation
wow so edgy hipster are you

Humans are flawed but that only means humans are to be surpassed, if humans were killed then another sapient civilization building species may not evolve in time before the sun bellows into a red giant and destroys all life on earth. If another species did achieve sapience then they would probably be just as destructive as us anyway.

Maybe humanity should be exterminated eventually, but not before it is surpassed by something else so sapient life can continue on.

[Anonymous No.3229318]

>>3229279

currently studying forestry, close enough?

>>3229287
we will more than likely at some point destroy ourselves, and in doing so, harm or disrupt the delicate balance of life that could possibly only exist on this particular planet. life is a beautiful occurrence, and it would be a shame for us to ruin that.

[Anonymous No.3229327]

As famously quoted in Jurassic Park, life will find a way, and it will die eventually, what is the point of beauty if there is noone here to appreciate it? Then one day the sun will explode, the whole planet will die, and your whole mission would've been just as useless

[Anonymous No.3229332]

>>3229318
Only dolphins and chimps are anywhere near close to sapience, a bunch of ants and frogs dying doesn't matter, what matters is the happiness of sapient life. Try thinking more.

[Anonymous No.3229365]

>>3229288
it's like culling the cosmic herd. if some other life form surpasses our level of consciousness, is it not fair to think that they would value the existence of life, and operate in ways that aren't as destructive?
>>3229327
i hadn't considered the concept of our lack of observation, but is it not pleasing to think that after we were gone the same beauty would persist and flourish? the notion that these things are only here for our aesthetic fancy is exactly the kind of attitude i am referring to.

[Anonymous No.3229380]

>>3229332
the health and longevity of an ecological system relies on biodiversity. also, the idea that we are somehow more valuable than any other species plays right into the human-centered-universe attitude i was referring to.

try thinking more.

[Anonymous No.3229400]

@ op: you're probably feeling alone, probably because you've not found people like yourself in real life whom you can communicate with casually.

we are tribalistic by nature. we seek people with similar values and interests, with a similar or higher level of intellect.

the tribe must survive. everyone else can fucking piss off or die.


it's a little different if you're a girl. western girls are misanthropic because of competition and because 'losing,' according to their culture, is inevitable; they're only desirable for 1/7th the time they exist on earth.

[Anonymous No.3229423]

>>3229365
>if some other life form surpasses our level of consciousness
Humans are like the cambrian explosion, the cambrian explosion was caused by the emergence of sexual selection in multi-cellular organisms and resulted in the extinction of many forms of life and the evolution of many others. For the first time in history an intelligent creature has the potential to take control over evolution, if this is all destroyed it would just be a step backwards.

I'm not "shocked out of my shell", I'm not a "corporate drone" or whatever, this just makes sense.

[Anonymous No.3229427]

From the sounds of things you're just a faggot.

But maybe you're a transhumanist? Are you at all interested in replacing humanity with a superior presence? Do you like robots, alternative, or future routes of evolution? I'd have to say I'd gladly wipe humanity from the face of the Earth if it meant giving a chance to better use our resources to a smarter species.

[Anonymous No.3229433]

>>3229380
>human-centered-universe attitude
No, not human centered, sapient centered. Mass extinctions occurred before humans and they would occur if we never evolved, you have a really retarded narrow view of things if you think everything revolves around biodiversity.

[Anonymous No.3229454]

>>3229400
2/7*
fix'd

[Scientist !!ThFjnJh4EkH No.3229459]

>>3229423
>Humans are like the cambrian explosion, the cambrian explosion was caused by the emergence of sexual selection in multi-cellular organisms and resulted in the extinction of many forms of life and the evolution of many others.
>caused by the emergence of sexual selection
Nope. AFAIK, this is not well accepted. There are other plausible explanations.

Citations please if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous No.3229490]

>>3229459
Bilaterians. Why do I have to provide a citation for something that is even more obvious than 1+1=2? I can't be bothered to split hairs with an obscurant dogmatist, sorry.

[Scientist !!ThFjnJh4EkH No.3229494]

>>3229490
>even more obvious than 1 + 1 = 2
Yeah.... No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion#Possible_causes_of_the_.E2.80.9Cexplosion.E2.80.9D

I'm sure they link to respectable papers. There is no one established cause. Sorry.

[Anonymous No.3229520]

>>3229427
haha, this is exactly what i am trying to describe.
life will exist longer on this planet, one way or another, without us.
>>3229423
you seem rational, maybe i just don't understand why we, or anything else needs to control evolution.

why is it that something needs to control evolution? i'm sure that it could lead to amazing things,

[Anonymous No.3229539]

>>>>>/lit/1852334

[Anonymous No.3229545]

>>3229243
IM SO HIP AND COOL!

[Anonymous No.3229555]

>>3229520
If that is so, then why does this planet matter in particular?

[Anonymous No.3229556]

>>3229545

thanks for your meaningful contribution.

[Anonymous No.3229575]

>>3229243
No. Generally scientists have a great optimism for the potential of the only species on this planet that can manipulate its environment as we can.

By hating the human species you feel special. You feel that holding the hatred you have imbues you with a special discernment that others don't poses. Because you believe you have this discernment you have a superior existence. I'm sorry. You aren't special. No matter what you do in this life you will die and rot in the ground with the rest of us.

Humans are the agents of the formless process that seeks to challenge the very nature of the Universe. The creation of the Universe begat the stars. The stars begat the elements. The elements begat organic life. Organic life begat evolution. Evolution begat humans. Humans are the harbingers of the next step in this never ending process of creating structure were they ought not be - of crafting the next step in the ongoing evolution of self emergent forms in this Universe - life. We will create a singular intelligence greater than the sum of the collective contributions of humanity, thus heralding the next paradigm shift in evolution. That intelligence will go forth into the Universe carrying our legacy, the legacy passed down to us from the creation of the Universe.

This - is our role - our purpose. Sorry you don't see it that way.

[Anonymous No.3229586]

>>3229555

consider the amount of planets that could possibly harbor life, out of the billions and billions of those which exist.

earth, or earth-like planets are incredibly rare, and just for that reason are worth preserving. i mean, there is no inherit value or worth to these, if we are to assume the universe is indifferent to their existence, but if there is at least one thing we should appreciate it's probably that.

[Anonymous No.3229590]

Surely humanity is to be seen in low regard; but to waste one's contempt on flies seems rather excessive.

[Anonymous No.3229599]

>>3229586
Are you aware of the GOE?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxygenation_Event

It is possible for the majority of Earth's life to either be killed by itself or an outside factor, such as an asteroid impact or a gamma-ray burst. We are unique on this world, as we have the capability to travel outside the atmosphere. Currently, the only chance any Earth lifeform has to survive the destruction of the planet's biosphere is to hitch a ride with us, into space. We are capable of constructing artificial biospheres, and may one day also be capable of terraforming. We may one day begin spreading life to places where there was none.

Is this good?

[Anonymous No.3229626]

>>3229599
of course. if we were to take up these sorts of preservation efforts, i probably wouldn't feel they way i do. it just seems that the average person is unaware or uncaring towards the fragility of life, and for that reason, is useless. it just seems that if we ever do try anything on that scale, it will be reactionary.

also, is it not fair to think that life has value beyond it's utility?

[Anonymous No.3229646]

>>3229626
We shouldn't depend on average people to set the policy of our species. If we did, I doubt we'd be ramping up efforts to expand into space, or looking starward at all. Even if our move out into the solar system was reactionary, perhaps motivated by our removal of the planet's ability to support us, it could result in the eventual seeding of life on many other worlds. However, I sincerely doubt that we would be able to make this planet completely inhospitable to all forms of life, unless we undertook a campaign of deliberate orbital bombing.

Life has no intrinsic value than that a self-aware being assigns to it, in my view. Obviously, we have different opinions, and mine is that life is only "beautiful" or "worth protecting" when we see it that way.

[Anonymous No.3229653]

>Literally, if given the chance, i would exterminate mankind, including myself without hesitation.

How dark and edgy.

Humanity has and will continue to do bad things, but that doesn't equate to "hurr kill everone durr".

It took billions of years for us to arrive at this point, it'd be quite the waste to see it all disappear.

[Anonymous No.3229688]

>>3229318
>he thinks humans could sterile the earth even if we tried

[Anonymous No.3229703]

>Actually this is interesting. I thought the 100,000 or so nuclear weapons currently existing should be enough to drown the planet's surface in radiation.

Although I guess deep underwater they'd escape it.

[Anonymous No.3229710]

>>3229288
>picture of a fat goth kid
>"wow so edgy hipster are you"

oh wow, it took three whole posts

[Anonymous No.3229716]

>>3229703
It's possible that even human life would survive, were every nuclear warhead to be detonated over a prime target. Neither the immediate blast or radiation effects would kill all humans, but the environmental effects, not to mention the collapse of all modern civilization, would kill many who survived the attacks themselves. Even a limited nuclear winter would play merry hell with the climate, which means plenty of consequences for plant and animal life as well.

Still, life would go on, if not for us.