People are stupid?

If you ask people why they do the things they do in life, they will give you sensible


sounding reasons which seem to explain their decisions. We like to believe that we


exercise sound judgement, especially in the important decisions of our lives.





I think that this is rarely true. I think that standard operating procedure for human


decision making is to do what feels right to you at the time, and then to give logical


sounding justifications for what you were already going to do anyway, whether you had


justifications or not.





So, if you are pregnant, and want to get an abortion, you will be able to give any number


of reasonable sounding explanations why this is the right decision. You're not ready to


be a parent, or you need to finish your education or get to a better point in your career,


or you don't have enough money, etc. If instead you want to keep the baby, you will


explain how even though you will have some extra difficulties due to the lack of money


or whatever, you will certainly be up to the challenge to make your life work with the


baby, how being a parent will be good for you, what a great parent you'll make, how it


will bring you and the father closer together, and so on. In either case, none of these


will be the real reason for your decision. The real reason for your decision will always


be, "I did it because I wanted to do it".





This method of decision making may have worked fine earlier in human history.


However, in a highly complex technological society, the inevitable result of this is that


people behave in extremely stupid ways.





For example, the average American household now has $8000 in credit card debt, on


which they pay an average of 19% interest. Is there any good reason to be running an


$8000 debt? No. Did these people all run into major life crises which forced them to


run up huge debts or else become homeless? No, they spent it on furniture, clothing,


televisions, etc. Is it logical to spend $1500 a year in credit card interest? Clearly not.


People do this because there isn't extra money in the bank, but there is something they


want to buy, and the positive feeling they get from the idea of having this item is


stronger than the negative feeling they get at the idea of their monthly payment going


up by another $20.





For example, marijuana is illegal in most of the world, while alcohol is legal, despite the


fact that alcohol is a far more dangerous drug than marijuana in every way. People


consider marijuana to be a dangerous drug, while they think of alcohol as being a fun


beverage. They consider those who sell marijuana to be drug dealers, the scourge of


society who should be hunted down and imprisoned, while those who sell alcohol (wine


makers, grocery stores) are of course not placed in the same category.





Logically speaking, it should be the other way around. Alcohol tends to make many


people aggressive, leading to a variety of violent crimes, while marijuana does not.


Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and leads to a serious loss of


coordination and motor skills. At larger doses, alcohol renders one completely


unconscious. Drunk drivers cause enormous numbers of automobile accidents and


deaths. Marijuana is not a central nervous system depressant, and while one probably


shouldn't drive while intoxicated on anything, it simply does not cause anywhere near


the loss of motor control that alcohol does, and is only a fraction as dangerous as


alcohol in terms of driving. And, a large enough dose of alcohol can and will kill you,


while the same is not true of marijuana.





But people are looking at this based on their feelings. Marijuana feels like a drug to


them. It's illegal, isn't it? Alcohol feels like a fun beverage. It's legal, and socially


acceptable, so it feels ok, so it must be ok.





All of this is illogical and stupid, and typically human. And I could give countless other


examples of this, but I'm sure you can think these up yourself. Just look at how people


behave in terms of politics and religion.





And, I think that when you see ridiculous and idiotic behavior and decision making in


other people(or in yourself), you have to consider it to be the inevitable result of the


nature of the human psyche.





"The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate


the extent of human stupidity." - Voltaire

People are stupid?
Marijuana can't work in our society, can you imagine if everyone went round stoned?





they would begin to see things as they really are and that would be unbearable for our leaders and bankers.





each culture has drugs that are acceptable and drugs that are not, in our culture alcohol, caffeine and to a lesser extent these days tobacco are ok, and the rest you know yourself.
Reply:im not...my card has only $700 on it...im careful..
Reply:Understand this - humanity is NOT about being smart or productive or intelligent or advanced.





Humanity is about pain, about avoiding pain, about finding the shortest easiest path to personal happiness and fulfillment.





Once you fully grasp this truth, everything else completely falls into it's rightful place. Then things such as war, hate, prejudice and every other human suffering become understandable.
Reply:cnt be bethered reading too long