Ask Lemmy

No.

Humanity's potential...yes.

Humanity's actuality...no.

Absolutely! Turmoil comes in waves, and after each major challenge, we come out a little better than we were.

We've survived worse than this and eventually the world will look back at what was happening now and think, "Sure am glad we aren't like THAT anymore!"

Last year I was feeling really down on people and how the world was going. I signed up for a volunteer gig to get outside and be a little productive.

I mainly expected the work to be satisfying, which it was, but my biggest surprise was how great being around like-minded people that also wanted to make our community better felt.

It feels more like hanging out with friends, even though we're busy as hell, and not like a job because we're all there by choice, and we get to see on a daily basis how our efforts are helping. It may only be a drop in the bucket, but it's not as though we're the only group working for our cause.

It's one of the most satisfying choices I've ever made in my life, and if you can find time (my commitment is 4 hours a week for half the year) it may improve your outlook on things if you're feeling like everything around you is bad.

Humanity? Sure.

Human institutions? Less and less.

Gone. Reduced to atoms.

Yes

Yes, 100%. Go talk to people. Travel. Trust. Love. The internet, social media, the news are as real as lord of the rings, or fortnite.

I have almost never met someone evil or truly unreasonable. I have of course left places that were not working for me. People trying to rope me into status games I didn't care for etc, or pressure me to do stuff I didn't want to do. Sometimes it's unpleasant, even painful. But not remotely something that can counterbalance all the great interactions and great people I have met. Heck, it's doesn't compete even just the kindness complete strangers have given me.

Catch people who do you harm in a different situation, years later and talk about it, and the same people are often reasonable, open to change, open to talk about why they do what they do.

You don't have to forgive them. But for me, it helps.

Nah.

The good part is that I won't be around much longer to see it all go to hell in a handbasket.

The bad part is that my kids will.

Sorry about that, kids, I honestly did the best I could.

"Still"? That would imply that I ever had faith in humanity.

Yes, just not the ones in charge.

Although, you shouldn't have faith in those in charge even on a good day - especially if you can even slightly influence who gets to be in charge (by voting, for example - if you have a right to vote, you have a responsibility to vote well).

I resent how this question implies I ever had faith in humanity.

For sure. The people I meet are kind, caring, and responsible. Every time I start to get depressed about humanity, I turn off the internet and go hang with real people.

Still?

Why would I put my faith in humanity, the most violent and destructive creature in the animal kingdom? There is an ideal beyond the survival animal we are, an imagination of how much better we could be. That's what I put my faith in. That's the kind of world I want to work toward.

I have faith that it will eat itself

Humanity is too broad a grouping

idk...

just an example: I never really had any of my peers stand up for me when I get bullied in school... I doubt that in the adult world, others are gonna step in since its even more dangerous than k-12 so people are just gonna be bystanders while I get beaten in broad daylight (hypothetical, haven't actually been assulted as an adult yet)...

maybe if people stood up to bullies more, I'd have more faith, but as of now, I feel so alone... even family feels very cold to me... but I feel even more scared to leave and be alone out in the world... like a "the enemy you know" type of thing...

like its a "kill or be killed" type of world

-Philly, PA, USA

People from other places might feel differently

Humanity isn't the problem, it's the growing concentration of power

I have faith in people, but not in humanity as a whole. Our governments are run by some of the most disgusting people imaginable, politicians, who are controlled by even worse people, the rich.

Can't lose what you never had

Never had. How can you have faith in a species which puts most effort towards advancing weapons to destroy as much as possible of it's own species.

Zero. I have unshakable belief that we're collective morons with self-destruction baked into our DNA.

As a whole, yes. We've managed to make it this far, and have strived for progress the whole time. On an individual level, absolutely not.

Based on my own experiences and readings, I'd guesstimate that a good 10% of people are genuinely evil, and another 50% are morons. I would absolutely not bet on those odds when trying to get help. Still, that leaves another 40% who are decent enough to want good, and smart enough to act on it.

well, I generally think most people are better than me, and I'm still here.

In waves. Mostly despair, but then I’ll see some Anarchist shit helping others fight parasitic institutions or decentralization getting a little more traction. Little wins against the oppressors. Renewable energy and batteries getting better and better. People using critical thinking or proper logic.

It just takes an example of the good fight to ignite the kindling within for me. But it’s tough out here.

I feel people are really either stupid, naive, or evil

There's a tiny sliver of people that I have faith in, in there

"Still?"

Never did. Still don't.

I don't think I ever had

What do you mean 'still'?

Faith is irrational confidence based upon inappropriate evidence. I deal in trust, and it's mostly gone. The minimal pockets of rationality and common decency are shrinking and we're headed to a right wing hate-based dystopia from which I don't see a way to escape

I don't. I do.

Nope. Not even in living beings at this points.

I know understand Dr. Manhattan saying that a inert rock in Mars is more interesting than a chain of self replicating amino acids which just want to replicate themselves.

https://youtu.be/wTF6ZkLM9eI

Time to give this a watch m8. Never give in.

no.

no.

Yes.

We haven't made it this far just by sheer luck.

No... Not really, but I like to pretend that I do.

The humans worth placing your faith in are not the ones calling the shots.

Humanity under capitalism is doomed. The only way we survive is if this AI bubble pops and burns capitalism to the ground with it.

One can hope.