Symbiotic

Transcribed from a video on Reddit, which you can watch HERE:

Q:  What sort of alternative society and culture…

A:  Oh, one that doesn't make guns and bombs.  One that's not at war with itself constantly.  One that doesn't poison the air, doesn't poison the land, doesn't poison the sea.  One that has enough respect for each other and the planet we live on, and all the other life-forms that share this planet that we live on.  When there is enough respect for all of that, to live in a way that's completely sustainable, that is beneficial to all life, so that mankind becomes a symbiotic life-form that's supporting the life of its host planet, instead of being a parasitic life-form that's devoiding its host planet with its ability to support life.

At the moment I'm sat on a train going to Auschwitz, and I know that there's gas ovens at the end of the line, and I can't think of anything that makes me happy on this journey.  There's nothing to celebrate.

If you want to be depressed, read the comments at the bottom of the post.  One third of the people make fun of him for having a long beard, the other two thirds derided him as unrealistic, saying the world he aspires to goes against "human nature."  The word "utopian" was banded about as a pejorative.

But they're wrong.

It's infantile to suggest that every dark impulse is "human nature" and must be indulged.  A pig may be content to wallow in filth, a human should aspire to more.

But more than that, I would argue that "human nature" is based on cooperation, not competition.  We didn't build cities and new technologies through avarice, sloth, and aggression.   We worked with each other and made amazing things.

It's nihilistic to presume a world based on our better instincts is not possible.

It absolutely is.