the biggest sin of human society is it materialistism which is the source of all evil. if somehow people sopped being materialistic then their could be hope for our damned species.
nonethless my line of thought indicates that we are intrinsically and genetacally designed to be materialistic.
do you think humans are genetically designed to be materialistic? i say ofcourse.
however before anyone wants to talk about materialism i welcome the person to define what he understands materialism is.
my definition is, the desire to acquire physical belongings in order to have a pleasure response from it.
When I think materialistic, I think, operating under the laws that govern matter.
I know the kind of people you’re talking about though. They like to buy things to show off to other people who like to buy things to show off. Because of this, they have to work a bunch of people to death making them new things all the time. Only way to do that is to set everything up to where people will , “voluntarily” perform these tasks, at the cost of their life, or 40 hours a week of it at least, and in exchange for enough money to barely survive. But hey, it’s optional, it’s voluntary. They can quit if they like.
I don’t think it’s possible, at this moment in science to determine whether or not something assigned a definition like yours could made by reference to dna. Psychological phenomena are explained in terms of their context in society, not in terms of biology.
I would define materialism, in the sense you are using it (sort of), as the desire to have things because of the secondary gain of having things, rather than for the experience of using them. IOW they get off on owning the 100,000 buck sports car, rather than primarily needing to or enjoying the accelerating faster to the speed limit this allows them. IOW oddly enough, materialism, in this pejorative sense, is a fixation on ideas not on matter. You love the idea of the being the guy with that car.
the definition itself does make a clear reference that as to why people are genetically geared towards being materialistic, however given the laws of learning it is an inevitable consequence. the reasoning is quite complex as it is not obvious but it details how materialism must arise in any society.
let me try to explain this quickly and simply.
in the most basic human scenario, people scarvenge for food and struggle everyday to survive, in this regards amterialism is necessary since people need the tools and food and shelter to survive. now at this stage food for example is rarely cooked and if it is it is done for survival purposes.
now with increase productivity people get through their basic needs and the have leisure time, since eating is pleasant they will do it in their leisure time but now it will not only be for survival but to increase the pleasure response. here is when materialism arises, it is the inevitable consequence of increased productivity.
obviosuly I am denoting that cooked food is a materialistic desire which might be strange for some people but it falls into the same category since it is often not necessary to survive and it is thus an unnecesary use of extra resources. which is basically what materialism is about. making products that are more resource expensive in order to make the pleasure response more efficient.
so we are all , any society actually, is genetically materialistic. my theory states that humans can decide not to be materialistic but this is onlyonce they determine that it is bad for them until then we are born materialistic.
it is an absolute constant.
before anyone wants to critizice this logic i want the people to make sure that they understand that materialism in this case is not having something to be accepted by society, that is part of it but is not the essential part of it, here materialism means the acquisition of pleasure through physical objects that are increasingly resource intensive.
i agree that its not the belonging but the idea of having the belonging because you expect it to be pleasurable, however im actually not referring to that but to the actual experience, humans are genetically designed to want to develop ( produce items that make the pleasure response more efficient), gaining esteem from them is a secondary, also inevitable consequence of it. but thats another thing even more complex.
It is very possible there is a gene that expresses “putting up”. That of stock piling what is presently available for a point in the future when it may not be. It appears an appropriate response to the presence of seasons that change the availability of a food supply and a climate that changes the requirements of energy expenditure to survive.
A chipmunk will store up to 80 lbs of nuts and seeds in a season. All that to keep an animal of 3-5 oz. alive for one of the seasons. Added to that the chipmunk sleeps in a near hibernation state waking for only an hour or so a day during the winter to eat from what it has stored. Perhaps there is some other mechanism at play in the lengths it goes to putting up, a sort of accidental planting in preparation for the next season. That is to say that over time the practice has proven to be effective not only in the current season of shortages but to the following season of growth. What is “good” for the plants the chipmunk survives on is good for the chipmunk.
Can this sort of genetic predisposition permute into “materialism” in a creative species? Sure seems plausible.
[b]Agreed I was one a alcoholic and drug addict. The pleasure’s was great…until I got diabetics and live damage. Then I thought is there some better out there? I understand any addi()tion well. Even the addi()tion of a illusion. I got in touch with the true me and it’s been a wake up call. It’s really to late to say oops should have done that. I have discovered meditation and God that I swore didn’t e()ist. I see a helluva lot now than I did then. I will mot thump my bible are get on my soap bo(). (I have two letters missing) waiting on my new computer.
There is a better life out there. It’s your ()hoi()e. [/b]
Per se no, we are not materialistic by birth, but it is a dorment behaviour which can easily be awakend. Many primitive tibes havn’t had any great materialistic desires, only when the white man came they would develope such thing.
I personally wouldn’t say it is the root of all evil I would rather agree with Socrates when he said, “there is one good knowledge and one evil ignorance.” but yes materialism seems to be one of the major ignorances that plague humanity…
But then I think that materialism is an evolved trait probably because it has some good to it… perhaps the true problem is not materialism but excess of materialism: Greed.
It seems that you are too worked up about this, and you put things out of proportion.
A good economy depends on consumers and buisnessmen to spend money, else the economy will stall. With taxes the goverment can then collect an amount of money to spend on schools, roads, hospitals, good relatons with other nations/countries, enlightment to the people, etc.
If there would be a bad economy the goverment couldn’t collect much tax and there would be less spendings on essential features, therefore it’s good that people has this spending on material goods.
Only when materialism becomes bad, is when it’s sickly fixated. That consumers will begin to steal, getting depressions not being able to afford their expensive luxuary goods, taking high interest loans, etc.
[b]Agreed I was one a alcoholic and drug addict. The pleasure’s was great…until I got diabetics and live damage. Then I thought is there some better out there? I understand any addi()tion well. Even the addi()tion of a illusion. I got in touch with the true me and it’s been a wake up call. It’s really to late to say oops should have done that. I have discovered meditation and God that I swore didn’t e()ist. I see a helluva lot now than I did then. I will mot thump my bible are get on my soap bo(). (I have two letters missing) waiting on my new computer.