Fear
I had a revelation the other night. Not some kind of divine intervention, but simply a genuine realization that, no doubt, some others before me have had. And no, I was stone cold sober and not taking anything. No joke here--I really came to grips with something.
When we look at the great volume of social problems that this world has, we should partly content ourselves with the fact that many of them have real, achievable solutions. Unfortunately, the very same species that has the power to effect (sic) them is often the one that blocks them. Why is this? Because, most of the opposition to these solutions manifests itself from one common emotion: Fear.
Take any historical social problem, the solution that was eventually put into place and that worked to at least some extent, and the opposition to it at the time. Here in America, many whites were afraid of the civil rights movement and what they felt it could do to them. A similar effect could be seen in South Africa and its "privileged" citizens' fear of losing apartheid. Today, our society has quite a few targets of fear: criminals (particularly child molesters), drugs, taxes, the national deficit, Muslims, Latinos, and so forth. This leads us back to our original point: Every one of these issues have, at least to some extent, rational solutions that would make our society a safer, saner place. Fear, however, tends to serve as the primary force that blocks these positive changes. Fear loves to scream and shout, hates to listen, and utterly refuses to budge. Rare is the day when fear alone guides us to a positive solution that involves anything more than short-term survival in a dire situation.
That is exactly how fear evolved: to keep us alive in situations that carry a risk of harming or killing us, right then and there. It was a relatively effective tool for a time and place when people had a marked lack of access to higher knowledge. However, once that knowledge begins to enter society, that knowledge that it's okay to eat certain kinds of mushrooms or not automatically kill a nearby tribe of a different skin color, fear not only loses its advantage but begins to turn into an outright liability. The unfortunate part is that though society has entered an age of exceptionally rapid evolution, the evolution of our genes remains at a snail's pace. In short, we use our cave-person minds while living in a highly developed world. Barring a eugenics program of some kind to artificially select people who are less likely to be afraid, which would produce catastrophic results if it even slightly misfires, the instinct of fear is not one that we are going to be able to shake anytime soon. Fortunately, though, we do have an ace in the hole: education.
The human brain, as we have been constantly reminded, is more powerful than that of any other known species. It is our single greatest strength. Its tendencies and patterns are fixed only to an extent; we can learn and unlearn some of these natural tendencies. Yes, I believe we can unlearn fear and replace it with a more effective response to situations perceived as dangerous: Reason. Knowledge of how to get through a dire situation can greatly increase the odds of surviving it or knowing that it really isn't a threat in the first place. Consider hikers in the Rocky Mountains who learn what to do in case they encounter a bear or a mountain lion. Though some of our instincts may tell us to run as fast as we can, people who know how to deal with bears and mountain lions know that is exactly what you do not want to do. Also consider paramedics, rescue units, nurses, and doctors, who undergo countless hours of training in order to increase patients' survivability in life-or-death situations. They learn and rehearse as much procedure as possible, so as to have to make as few judgment calls as possible during those dire situations, as people's judgments tend to be cloudy during those times. All this applies to less serious situations as well, such as children learning to not fear clowns or otherwise inherently harmless people or things.
I really don't think we have a choice here. If humanity is to survive itself for another half a million years, then we absolutely must replace fear with reason at every step of the way. We must stop fearing alleged dangers and reason our way through genuine ones. We must be aware of what negative effects, both trivial and catastrophic, fear can have on others. Yes this process will take many generations, and we may have to rely on fear in a select few situations even during the transition, but that is no excuse not to try. This is not a choice; this is survival. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
(Discussion here.)
When we look at the great volume of social problems that this world has, we should partly content ourselves with the fact that many of them have real, achievable solutions. Unfortunately, the very same species that has the power to effect (sic) them is often the one that blocks them. Why is this? Because, most of the opposition to these solutions manifests itself from one common emotion: Fear.
Take any historical social problem, the solution that was eventually put into place and that worked to at least some extent, and the opposition to it at the time. Here in America, many whites were afraid of the civil rights movement and what they felt it could do to them. A similar effect could be seen in South Africa and its "privileged" citizens' fear of losing apartheid. Today, our society has quite a few targets of fear: criminals (particularly child molesters), drugs, taxes, the national deficit, Muslims, Latinos, and so forth. This leads us back to our original point: Every one of these issues have, at least to some extent, rational solutions that would make our society a safer, saner place. Fear, however, tends to serve as the primary force that blocks these positive changes. Fear loves to scream and shout, hates to listen, and utterly refuses to budge. Rare is the day when fear alone guides us to a positive solution that involves anything more than short-term survival in a dire situation.
That is exactly how fear evolved: to keep us alive in situations that carry a risk of harming or killing us, right then and there. It was a relatively effective tool for a time and place when people had a marked lack of access to higher knowledge. However, once that knowledge begins to enter society, that knowledge that it's okay to eat certain kinds of mushrooms or not automatically kill a nearby tribe of a different skin color, fear not only loses its advantage but begins to turn into an outright liability. The unfortunate part is that though society has entered an age of exceptionally rapid evolution, the evolution of our genes remains at a snail's pace. In short, we use our cave-person minds while living in a highly developed world. Barring a eugenics program of some kind to artificially select people who are less likely to be afraid, which would produce catastrophic results if it even slightly misfires, the instinct of fear is not one that we are going to be able to shake anytime soon. Fortunately, though, we do have an ace in the hole: education.
The human brain, as we have been constantly reminded, is more powerful than that of any other known species. It is our single greatest strength. Its tendencies and patterns are fixed only to an extent; we can learn and unlearn some of these natural tendencies. Yes, I believe we can unlearn fear and replace it with a more effective response to situations perceived as dangerous: Reason. Knowledge of how to get through a dire situation can greatly increase the odds of surviving it or knowing that it really isn't a threat in the first place. Consider hikers in the Rocky Mountains who learn what to do in case they encounter a bear or a mountain lion. Though some of our instincts may tell us to run as fast as we can, people who know how to deal with bears and mountain lions know that is exactly what you do not want to do. Also consider paramedics, rescue units, nurses, and doctors, who undergo countless hours of training in order to increase patients' survivability in life-or-death situations. They learn and rehearse as much procedure as possible, so as to have to make as few judgment calls as possible during those dire situations, as people's judgments tend to be cloudy during those times. All this applies to less serious situations as well, such as children learning to not fear clowns or otherwise inherently harmless people or things.
I really don't think we have a choice here. If humanity is to survive itself for another half a million years, then we absolutely must replace fear with reason at every step of the way. We must stop fearing alleged dangers and reason our way through genuine ones. We must be aware of what negative effects, both trivial and catastrophic, fear can have on others. Yes this process will take many generations, and we may have to rely on fear in a select few situations even during the transition, but that is no excuse not to try. This is not a choice; this is survival. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
(Discussion here.)