Paradoxical Human Behaviour

[JaymesFogarty]

Being 17, (and as such having a ton and a half of time to kill on many pointless things like playing games, listening to music and such) I recently noticed a huge paradox in the behaviour of modern humans. We all acknowledge our own ephemerality, (fuck you Google, that is a word) and have more reason than any other generation in existence to understand our small and pitiful existence on a planet that is huge and rich and overwhelming and strange in an enormous universe.

Here is my question; with this in mind, why do we fuck around so much? Ignoring wars and mobs and gang fights, (there just isn't time to go into that) how is the entertainment industry so huge? You can't mope around proclaiming about how short-lived humans are, and then proceed to waste most of you life glued to a glowing screen, killing as much of your 'precious' time smashing blocks together as possible. I'm subject to the same behaviour of course, but that's because I inherently believe that life is worthless, that all endeavours are fruitless and that death would be a far more preferable option if suicide were not getting in the way all the time. But why do you think this is, and have you noticed any other paradoxical or confusing aspects of modern societal behaviour?

 

[Queen Michael]

Well, there's the way you're allowed to vote when you're 18 (or 21 or whatever). Not 18 years, 3 months and 15 days, just 18 years exactly. Pretty clearly chosen more because it's a satisfyingly even number than anything else, which everybody knows isn't very rational but nobody tries to change.

 

[Cheesepower5]

If we spent 50 - 100 years doing nothing but being productive we wouldn't be humans, we'd be machines. As living creatures we rely on down time to develop necessary life skills, absorb our culture and keep things like stress and overtiredness down. As a civilization, we have come far enough now to take these occasionally too far, becoming complacent and such, but over-all it's still a function of our basic urges and should be.

Why complain? I sympathize with your big picture, "laissez faire" sort of attitude. I whole-heartedly agree, actually. Ultimately, our actions in life are fleeting and unnecessary, but that just means you should take joy in each moment even more so if you can, because their is nothing you should be doing, but you could be doing a lot of things.

 

[adamsaccount]

Life can be very boring

 

[Jedi-Hunter4]

I agree with Cheesepower5 down time plays a factor, my work load goes up and down all the time and gets very intense, during which I dream of what I'm going to do when it's over, usually get drunk and then mong out for a week, by which point I'll get a few of those things I dreamt of doing done.

For me the big restrictor is always money, everything cost's a tonne to do. Even things that shouldn't really cost very much cost ALLOT because you get taxed to shit, or the gov has figured out a way to slyly tax you. ie was 3/4 through finalizing my Motorcycle license, now the gov have changed the rules and I either have to do it all again or be stuck on a tiny bike, so that's £200 down the pan.

I think the whole duality of man comes down to 2 different sides the extreme and the every day.

The extreme is man is capable of great evil as well as great good and even one man can be capable of both. I remember reading about one train of thought is that humans are animals of circumstance, its the whole if the apocalypse came most of us would fuck each other over kind of thing. While things are good we are all mostly happy being good people and abiding my the normal laws, when supplies run low and it's hard to survive, instinct kicks in and we don't care about morality, all we care about is survival, when there is nothing but life & death on a daily basis is there really a good and a evil kind of thing. Which I think is a really interesting and very complex discussion. Decent post apocalypse and dystopian future fiction literature handles the topic well, the people who abandon their morality for the sake of the survival of the group are the ones who survive, until some form of government begins to take back control.

It's also true when you look back in history at a less civilized age where you had to be barbaric to be successful. Napoleon, Richard the lion heart, gengis khan, Julius Ceasar all names that will probably live for a very long time, all responsible for what today would be considered atrocity's but for the most part were acceptable during the age and praised for it.

Then you have in my eyes the less interesting duality, the kind where people will ***** about something, do nothing to fix it. People are just lazy in general, an although they won't admit it, most people really couldn't give a toss about the troubles of others 1000's of miles away having issues they are not responsible for. To me on this kind of stuff something a teacher once said to me as a kid has always held true. Look at a person as an individual closely, give them challenges etc, your probably see a fairly smart person capable of doing things, get 30 random people together and ask them to do something simple like get in a line in order of height and your probably be there for a very long time. In essence when you look at people as (unorganized ie not military) group their pretty stupid and full of contradictions.

 

[manic_depressive13]

That's not really paradoxical. If you know you have a limited time on earth it makes sense to spend as much time as possible doing what you find enjoyable and fulfilling, and for me that happens to be gluing myself to a sceen or a book.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Because you'd probably stress yourself to death if all you ever did was work, work, and work.
And if you have a problem with people having fun, why are you on a video game forum complaining about this? Shouldn't you be spending every waking moment discovering the cure for cancer or something?

 

[Lucem712]

Because given the chance, someone would rather enjoy themselves than working. (Not that work can't be enjoying, depending on your task, the automation, and over all pleasure.)

Besides, even if some regard times spent alone or with friend enjoying various entertainment as 'a waste of time'. I do not believe that any subject, whether work or entertainment, is a waste of time if you enjoyed yourself and/or learnt something.

Have I put 160 hours in FO3? Yes.[footnote]If not more >_>'[/footnote] Was that a waste of time? Not my time. Maybe, to some but I enjoyed myself and in the end, life is too short to be a machine.

Also, escapism and all that. No one wants to spend 24/7 thinking about how fucked up the world is. The world and society has always been fucked up (in one way or another), people have always chose to spend time enjoying themselves over constantly thinking about the wrongs in the world. That's why entertainment stays strong even during depressions and such when people are watching their wallets.

 

[bug_of_war]

We use to have a name for people who did nothing but work, in fact I think it's still in use today. Slave? Servant? One of those kind of ring a bell.

Look, we could spend our whole lives being super efficient and making sure that every moment we have is spent on bettering ourselves as a species, but it's not in our nature to do so, it's not in any mammals nature to do so. We need down time, and without it life would be very depressing.

 

[Arakasi]

Your mistake, OP, is assuming that entertainment is a waste of time. If happiness is your goal, why need it be a problem, why would it be a waste of time if it makes you happy? What should you be doing instead?

 

[SinisterGehe]

Because humans, humanity, is defined by "emotions" - also restricted by some aspects.
Humans feel things and they are illogical, they are based on numerous factors, hormones, chemicals, age, life-style, education... list goes on and on.

Without emotions we are not humans, we are logical machines. So to remove that from humanity, is to remove the meta of humans, that what we assume is what makes us human. We still do not know what it is, but it makes us.
We are defined, molded, shaped and controlled by this mythical factor, to do both good and bad, good and evil; In order to humanity to move on, to next step on the evolution, away from primitive behavior and existence, we need to let go of that, to remove that from our genes. But that would be a paradox, to humans evolve we would need to give up that what makes us humans. There for evolution of humans can not happen, because we would become something else, less or more - this can not be said.

So in a world which is based on reason and logic, laws and regulations, we move with instinct and emotions; with the opposites of what our society is. 1 + 1 = 2 is logically sound, but emotionally might not be. So how can we live in a society based on reason as beings that live by it's humanity. We can't it is a paradox. How could we have built something like this? Well... Block by block, piece by piece. We have added little bit at a time to the social structure. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Also the biggest issue we have with our self, with our existence, with humanity, is that of a "why". "Why" do we exist, what is out goal. Happiness? To pass on out genes? To conquer the universe? To die?
Well how I think of it is: "Death has the answers". When we die, we know, but then it is too late. Note: this is not spiritual, this is purely logical, after we have lived, we know why we had a life.

 

[bigwon]

This is were spiritualism usually enters.....

People get to a point were they find that most conventions taught in society don't really stack up to anything, and look towards some sort method to the madness. It's what makes religion so successful, and why many are really subjective to it.

All our general lifestyle amounts to is consuming, shitting, and reproducing (no your career or social standing doesn't make you any less of a leech, it's your way of life)...To me it's no wonder why most would want to merely drown themselves in some sort of distraction or devote themselves to some sort of spiritual doctrine.

Personally if life had no meaning i'd have no reason not to just jump off of some bridge. I feel while I'm around I might as well take the opportunity and find some point to it. So careers, drugs, cars, furniture, fast food, easy women, etc. have been gradually dissolving as interests. I'm sort of just one of those dudes who's gradually trying to kick all of my bad habits, and become less of a consumer....try to go towards nature, sustainability, cause & effect, and all of that shiny, sparkly splendor....

also not trying to worry so much about the imminent doom of the human race, and death itself....i feel there's almost no better way i could be spending my time.

Life ambition: To die in peace

hope I don't come off as some self righteous twat....hehe

 

[IamLEAM1983]

If something gives you peace or a sense of purpose, it isn't a waste. Ergo, gaming can't be a wasteful activity, as it's a form of respite from sometimes mind-numbing professional or personal realities. Balance being required, you can't expect anyone to be all about productivity and *still* qualify as a sane individual. Either work and play start to fuse together on some level, or you find an outlet to burn off your frustrations or your need to do something else for a change.

Spending hundreds of hours in Skyrim isn't a waste if that's something that brings you peace of mind and emotional stability. It isn't a waste if you're able to spend some time with it and have the sense that you've achieved something. Gaming only ever becomes noxious once it starts consuming you.

While work, work and more work is fairly toxic; games, games and more games isn't much of a better attitude to have. I like cheesecake, for instance. That doesn't mean I'll go ahead and stuff my face full of it three times a day for the rest of my life. Games have their value to me because they work as a form of escapism. Remove whatever it is you're escaping from, and you've killed escapism altogether. I couldn't appreciate games the way I do without my studies and my job. I'd take them for granted, otherwise, and end up with a slew of bad decisions as a purchaser on my record.

After all, someone who's sufficiently bored just might figure that "Aliens: Colonial Marines" is actually a competent game. The levels of boredom would have to be desperate but - yeah.

 

[NightmareExpress]

There is no point to live, thus I will make a point.
If I accomplish something without thinking it a waste, it isn't a waste.
We are all cancer cells of the Earth, or the heroes of our own little stories.

It's all a matter of perspective.
We are creatures of logic, but we are also humans.
Humans who work too much kill themselves or die prematurely.
I thus conclude that entertainment, in all of it's various forms, is vital.

Cold hard progress is important, but so is sustainability and enjoyment.
A sentient machine with emotions requires happiness, however fleeting those moments may be.
This isn't a paradox, it's simply the nature of life. A refusal to accept leads to an existential crisis and potential apophenia. There is no pre-existing meaning other than to survive and see what becomes of it, so we forge our own definitions and reasons as to why we continue (and should/shouldn't continue) to be.

 

[Jadak]

Well, there's the way you're allowed to vote when you're 18 (or 21 or whatever). Not 18 years, 3 months and 15 days, just 18 years exactly. Pretty clearly chosen more because it's a satisfyingly even number than anything else, which everybody knows isn't very rational but nobody tries to change.

There's plenty of reason for that. Do you know how long it would take to get into places if the guy checking your id had to determine, on the spot, if you were 18 years, 3 months and whatever days old?

My bet, they'd say fuck it, settle on the year alone, or guess. Thus, it's an even number instead to be less fucking annoying.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

Because you'd probably stress yourself to death if all you ever did was work, work, and work.
And if you have a problem with people having fun, why are you on a video game forum complaining about this? Shouldn't you be spending every waking moment discovering the cure for cancer or something?

I'm not complaining about it, I'm just curious as to why to contradiction exists (time is limited, but I'll spend most of my time doing incredibly inconsequential nonsense). And that also doesn't apply to me - I'm a asexual depressed pessimist. As far as I'm concerned, if the human race were to be killed tomorrow, (including myself) who cares? Bring on the death, destruction and despair. It's not like there's anything better to do.

 

[Angie7F]

If life was all logical, it would be very very boring.
I personally dont care if the world ends tomorrow and i dont care if I die tomorrow.
Life is just a repetition of menial things and nothing gets any better so I really couldnt care less.