I’m not sure how it is possible to produce merely average people though?
Not getting excited with global solutions and utopias. At some point in my 12-15 I considered libertarianism a far wiser ideology than the rest due to this, but then noticed how there are libertarian utopias emerging for all tastes. Panarchy (that’s not yet a thing), agorism (that to some extent is, with cryptocurrencies and internet connectivity) and maybe something else.
Any wise construct stops being wise if you rely on it too much.
So people thinking “correctly” are not those you want to have, people familiar with good things, but not invested too much, are.
If you build a construct (say, in a game like Civilization) with -7 modifier to fascism, then the humanity will regulate to that and negate the modifier. Then your construct crumbles, and the humanity gets +7 to fascism. Was it really a good idea in the first place then?
So I would argue that we always should remain strong… it’s just that the definition of what that even means will constantly keep changing, in response to our circumstances.
And that means that trying to remain strong we’ll waste effort in all directions instead of having some when needed.
But, Stoicism, yeah - it’s literally all that we can do, so let’s do that.:-)
Stoicism is about spending effort where you should and not spending when you shouldn’t. It’s not pure inaction, it’s the way to do less nonsense.
OpenStars@piefed.social 2 months ago
Humans seem not to be great planners - we are too short-sighted and selfish, but like in a bad way where we first lie to ourselves, and then also to one another.
This allows us to get out of local minima as we spread to new areas, but that same trait seems equally likely to lead to our extinction when all areas have been found and we need rather to switch to a more stablilzed society, yet won't bc we don't feel like doing so.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Such situations would regularly arise till early XX century and even now, so, eh, humanity tries everything. I wouldn’t assume I know a solution.
OpenStars@piefed.social 2 months ago
Ironically, religion seemed to be helping. And before that (before humanity itself), tribes. An extension of "self" to include other who nonetheless were not "other", at least not fully. But people seem to prefer wanting to game the system,
allowingforcing others to put into while themselves pulling out from.The age of enlightenment did much good to expose religious corruption, yet offered an inferior product to replace it: "knowledge", which so few people know how to properly handle, lacking training. e.g. in the USA we *knew*, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that most people were too busy and tired to properly educate themselves, yet we placed no restrictions upon voting (like a college degree, or even a test as simple as asking how many branches of government there are - which even that would cause many people to fail).nor did we offer the requisite aid (like a livable minimum wage, or conversely access to a minimum form of healthcare) to help people to help themselves, nor did we keep watch against the predators that would take advantage, e.g. safeguarding the media (instead allowing it to be bought out by billionaires, rather than staying true to the mission of doing "journalism", the seeking out and reporting of actual truth facts).
We brought this upon ourselves. Even if Donald Trump were to have a tragic accident tomorrow, even if the entire Republican party were to disappear into thin air, or all politicians combined, we would still be left with a broken system, just as before. We cannot escape the laws of Nature (whether put there by a God or not, but it's worth noting that for those who believe in such, He agrees that we deserve this fate).
Even so, I hope for better. I don't know what, or how, only that I need such for the sake of my own sanity.