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Originally Posted by Keeping It Gimple

the human nature argument is not good enough. its highly unscientific and vague and was created by western anti communists to explain the failure of stalinism and explain why neo-liberal capitalism is THE ONLY possible and best system ever.

first of all, stalinism and maoism were variants on state capitalism and second of all, the human nature argument is fucking retarded. it is a delusion like thinking capitalism exists because we started off bartering and needed tokens when we didnt have the right things to swap.

i don't know man. i was originally trained in biology. i have learned that we are apes and most of our behavior is biological. i notice this in the most minute social interactions-- there is a lot more that goes on in body language that ever leaves a person's mouth.

ideas are nice, but bodies are where most power comes from. ape bodies.

humanities people like to think that we're a tabula rasa that can be taught all sorts of things, but no. to say that we can eliminate group hierarchy and struggle is just like saying "homosexuality can be eradicated by training." what seems barbarous on one end seems enlightened on the other. i think it just can't be done--and i hope i'm wrong but that's what i think. maybe in the future with pharmacogenetic manipulation. in which case i hope i'm dead by then--because someone in power will be doing the manipulating "in the name of peace".

this is not to throw the towel on the argument for a better culture and society, and for better and more fruitful hierarchies. these days i happen to do cultural work, and i think culture is important. and yes, social organization is important. these things count for something-- but they're not absolute.

our tendencies can be modulated and given productive outlets. eliminated or fully replaced? i can't really believe that. we can't make it all nice by training. we can't just wish away our "dark" side.

it's the old rousseau/hobbes polarity. either "man is born innocent and society corrupts him" or we live in a permanent state of "warre".

i tend to side with hobbes. there is fossil evidence of ancient murders. capitalism didn't invent that.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....in-the-making/

seriously, we're a fucked up species. we're top predators pretending to be angelic.

let's own up to this first and maybe there's a slim chance for improvement. as long as we keep pretending otherwise, we're doomed to fail.