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Mon 24 Jan, 2005 10:33 pm
Why is it that we are so competitive? I mean, even when I look at kids playing their games, the object is mostly competition. I know it's a natural leftover of evolution but still, is it the want to 'achieve' something, be good at something, or gaining respect from others, or all of them? Or is it a dominating thing? I believe in the former.
It can be kinda disturbing sometimes that the thing that seems to give pleasure to people are winning something.
Re: competition
Ray
Real competition is the competition with ourselves. Unlike Faust, never say to the moment "stop, I had enough". New difficulties, new obstacles, new problems. Study, think, criticaal reasoning. That is competition. At least for me.
Competition is an animal instinct. To get the food before anyone else. Of course, man has taken the concept and disguised it as something noble, but that does not change the fact that it is an animals way, that he cannot shake.
What you're talking about val is not competition. It's war. War against ignorance, the true and only enemy any man can have.
Thanks for the reply. I agree with you both.
There are, of course, different kinds of competition. The kind we've been talking about here, so far, is the raw, rough-and-ready competition to achieve a personal gain -- more food, a better cave to live in, to be "king of the hill." But there are other kinds of competition that are far more altruistic -- to be the first to discover a new cure for a dreaded disease, to be the first to reach the swimmer who is drowning, etc. Granted, even this nobler form of endeavor is still "competition" in that you want to be first. It's an ego trip, at least in part. But my point is that without this instinctual drive to succeed, a lot less cures for diseases would be found, a lot less drowning victims would be saved. We'd sit back and say, "Oh, let that guy do it. He's a better swimmer than I am, anyway."
Re: competition
Ray wrote:is it the want to 'achieve' something, be good at something, or gaining respect from others, or all of them? Or is it a dominating thing?
All of the above. Look at how society rewards those who compete well (Bill gates) versus how it treats those who don't (The world abounds with examples).
Quote:It can be kinda disturbing sometimes that the thing that seems to give pleasure to people are winning something.
We're a fucked up species.
Cyracuz
As usual, I agree and disagree with you.
We are not cavemen. I don't have to fight to get lunch. So, when I gave my point of view about competition, I was talking within the normality of our lives, in the western world.
But if things change, if a global disaster destroys civilization, then ... you are right. I would have to kill in order to eat. But then, you see, I would not be the Val I am.
No, we are not cavemen. I am simply saying that the urge you get inside yourself to outdo everyone else is an instinct that comes from nature. All living creatures have it, not just humans. Humans though have the ability to ponder it, and that's when complications arise.
The normality of our lives in the western world, val, is nothing more than the accumulated misunderstanding of concepts right from the first slayed indian, or in my case the tribes that populated norway before our ancestors stole it, to the invasion of foreign countries. All this was done in the spirit of competition. For votes, for money, for security, for oil. The list goes on.
I think I must agree with Cyracuz. The urge to compete is so innate that it can be considered instinctive. Humans have sublimated it somewhat by inventing "sport", for example, and card games and board games. Without these, we might well be going out armed each day, looking for something or someone to kill.We are not that far away from the caveman mentality yet. Our technology has far outpaced our emotional growth.
That is my opinion also Merry Andrew. Technology has advanced in such leaps that the moral to guide it has fallen behind. What's worse is that technology is incorporated into our lives in such a way that it actually counters moral and spiritual growth. Everything is to be made problemfree. User friendly. You should not need to get out of your chair to get what you need. Point and click. Heed your desires only! It's the song of our age. If anything goes wrong, then complain, don't try to solve it. Don't try to think.
Technology can never be more than an aid, a tool. The problem with modern society is that it has put technology at the center of its existence. We have grown dependent on something that in turn depends on our own fortune.
I think that competition can motivate people because in achieving something, the presence of obstacles that provide more difficulty allows one to have a sense of more achievement in the end, and people compare their work/achievement with other people's to have a sense of how much they have achieved. Of course, we shouldn't live for competition, and the 'achievement' must be morally guided.