Are we nearing the limits of our species?

July 20, 2023 | Jonty30

[Jonty30]

Every species would have a limit in its ability to develop their societies. Humans are not exempt from this, even if we are the most capable species.

Part of my question is in regards to the motivation of the left and their desire to devolve society. One of the main desires of the left is to be an elitest. However, for that to happen, they have to stay ahead of the game. How does the left stay ahead if we have mostly maxxed out the sciences and math and engineering and education?

What should happen, as we do approach our limit is that the top should democratize over time as those who are behind start to catch up with those who are ahead. So, is the left purposefully devolving society so they entrench themselves as elites and contine to use the most advanced society while the rest of us live less advanced lives?

[freedumb2003]

I beg to differ

[Alas Babylon!]

We are some of the most adaptable animals ever.

I can see humanity splitting up into several different paths, and once in space, become new and separate species.

[rktman]

Well if we don’t hurry and fix the climate problem.......😵😂👍

[EEGator]

Destroying certain homogeneous societies will cause the world to be a shittier place.
QED

[Vaquero]

Perhaps. The swamp butt holes are trying hard to start a nuclear war with Russia. Suicidal

[BitWielder1]

The only serious threat to humanity is human politics.
Everything else we can beat back.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

"In a 1962 edition of Scientific American, the ecologist John B Calhoun presented the results of a macabre series of experiments conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). 1 He had placed several rats in a laboratory in a converted barn where – protected from disease and predation and supplied with food, water and bedding – they bred rapidly. The one thing they were lacking was space, a fact that became increasingly problematic as what he liked to describe as his 'rat city' and 'rodent utopia' teemed with animals. Unwanted social contact occurred with increasing frequency, leading to increased stress and aggression. Following the work of the physiologist, Hans Selye, it seemed that the adrenal system offered the standard binary solution: fight or flight. 2 But in the sealed enclosure, flight was impossible. Violence quickly spiralled out of control. Cannibalism and infanticide followed. Males became hypersexual, pansexual and, an increasing proportion, homosexual." More...

In "The urban animal: population density and social pathology in rodents and humans"

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636191/

The article ends with "In focusing upon crowding, not only were the benefits of dense city-living ignored, but other causes of urban pathology, such as poverty and inequality, were neglected. Yet Calhoun's work considered many of these factors, suggested how they could be overcome, and as such, his role deserves reconsideration."

Yup. More reconsideration.

One watches a "utopia," San Francisco, as its businesses fell downtown, poop maps are map, public nudity allowed, and S&M marches held, while the REITs continue into deeper trouble. reconsideration is indeed apt.

For more on the Calhoun experiment, "John B. Calhoun's Mouse Utopia Experiment and Reflections on the Welfare State,"

Source: https://fee.org/articles/john-b-calhoun-s-mouse-utopia-experiment-and-reflections-on-the-welfare-state/

[GingisK]

Civilization has risen and fallen many times on our Earth. I heartily believe that we are rapidly approaching the collapse, just to start from the beginning once more.

It does make one eager to understand why we keep reaching a pinnacle, then destroying it. Maybe we have a self-destruct switch in our DNA.

[alexander_busek]

Every species would have a limit in its ability to develop their societies.

Why is this sentence in the subjunctive mood, rather than in the indicative mood? I.e.: Why would every species have such a limit?

Or is this the conditionalis irrealis: Every species would have a limit - if only... What?!

And does the author really mean every species? So: Pigeons, skunks, fleas, Clown Fish, etc.? There are limits to their ability to develop their societies?! Really?! Do they even have societies to develop?

Regards,

[GingisK]

That is certainly food for thought. Population pressure makes sense.

[GingisK]

...Pigeons, skunks, fleas, Clown Fish, etc...

Seemed to have peaked early, so doesn't that indicate they have a built in limit?

[Phoenix8]

Professor Dutton on YouTube has many videos on the subject. It’s basically dysgenics caused by the greatly increased survival rates of defective genetic combinations and mutations in a protective and nurturing civilization. The answer of course is simple, go back to a system of Eugenics. However the Nazi (and other places) radical methods used and subsequent socialistic movements which champion radical egalitarianism have smeared and black listed any talk of that. A shame too because it could be done in a very humanitarian way…example no taxes on heathy/brilliant/ productive parents who have big (bio) families and harsh prison terms on the criminal elements (something that was routinely done in a majority of our history anyway) which are nearly all low IQ compared to the norm—-Dr Hannibal Lector types the exceptions to the rule. Instead we literally pay the most unproductive females of our society to stay home and have kids (ADC—-thanks LB Johnson).

[alexander_busek]

Seemed to have peaked early, so doesn't that indicate they have a built in limit?

That only bolsters my assertion that the subjunctive mood is entirely misplaced here. The author should thus have instead used the indicative mood: "Every species has a limit..."

Regards,

[laplata]

“The only serious threat to humanity is human politics.
Everything else we can beat back”.

That’s how I see it, too.

[W.]

Scum rises to the top, or more bluntly, shit floats. I offer our current government leaders as a prime example of my statement.

[GingisK]

Oh, I see! I missed that.

[arizonarick]

Evolution happens!
So, is it triggered by internal programming, or external pressures, or both?
Conflicts and wars everywhere.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- "Population pressure makes sense."

Roy Beck's illustration colors the subject with a simple and short demonstration.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iatxAIQTij4

Certainly inner cities -- especially run by the "policies" of Democrats and progressives more progressive than the Democrats -- are essentially experiments with easily observable data points which the same "political" thinkers say are somebody else's fault / responsibility / concern. And of course the accompanying cry is "send more money." Pressures rise.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

My neighbor in Berlin, when we lived there, observed that politics was dominated by sociopaths. What he meant was your expression, “scum.” And your other expression is mine today.