Do you think life is meant to be selfish and evil because we are programmed to eat?

Question

If all we have to do is breath air and drink water only then wouln't we have a more peaceful world and kinder to each other?

Answer 1

Interesting question. I do not see the correlation between eating and treating each other better or worse. I think people are all selfish. The truly selfless person does not exist. I do not think this has anything to do with whether or not people eat. All living things "eat" or consume is probably a better word. Plants consume nutrients from the soil and do not belittle one another or have any conflicts. I could understand your point if people were fighting over food in order to survive, but that is not the case in the world we live in today.

Answer 2

I disagree because it's not eating that's the problem, it's how we react to others eating, and the same can be said for how others breath or drink. Ever get annoyed at a noisy breather, someone who snored while awake, wheezed uncontrollably, or just made unpleasant sounds? Ever get disgusted by how someone drank, smacking their lips, or making needless noise while doing it? Maybe not, but it happens, and maybe people don't like what it is you do? Regardless, not only is seperating eating apart from breathing and drinking such a trivial notion, what if the answer was yes? What would you do then, get everyone to stop eating food and drinking anything that isn't water?
Small tribes in remote parts of the world are able to live harmoniously together and they all happen to eat. They live selfless lives because they have to, their community is too small and too fragile to survive if someone were to act only in their own best interests, so by default, a person's best interests becomes the communities best interests. It doesn't work for us though, communs were tried and failed. Just be kind to others, and encourage them to be kind, that's all any of use can really do to make a real difference in this world when it comes to being kind.

Answer 3

Man can not survive on just air and water, we eat to survive, not because we are "programmed" to do so. How this relates to being selfish and evil, I don't see it. The world is full of selfish and evil people driven by greed and/or religion and until this changes, the world as we know it will continue this way.

Answer 4

Unlikely. Consider the imaginary world of Star Trek. They have replicators that can make anything for them. At the same time they are rife with conflict. While parts of Star Trek are hard to believe, conflict is not, and an abundance of resources doesn't change that.

As an aside read some of Ayn Rand's book for a very different perspective of selfishness.

Answer 5

Good questions. I have resolved them in myself by thinking of myself and others as pieces of bones clothed in meat and acknowledging that it is just the way it is. The more you can train your mind to be unthinking, unfeeling like an animal's, the better you will fee. I don't do much good for others and certainly do not expect much in return. One day, I know I will be in a very VERY bad place and that is okay. As long as you can internalize with objectivity the 'way of the world', you will find solace in knowing that people including yourself are and always will be a certain way and aint nothing gonna change that, ever!

Answer 6

Selfish yes, because instinctively we always put ourselves 1st. Evil, no, when I eat steak or something its not like Im thinking about how much pain and stuff the cow went through, Im thinking survival.

Answer 7

Happily, we are hard wired to survive as individuals. We survive as a species because we have learned (more or less) to control our individual "eat or be eaten" instincts and instead, we take on a group dynamic of kill or be killed.

Answer 8

Eating has got nothing to do with being evil and selfish, I fail to see your logic

Answer 9

No, the biggest problem is the world is power, money and religon. Number one causes of war.

Answer 10

You mean from an animal-instinct perspective? Yes, I suppose we all have greedy, gluttonous sides; it's human nature. Very deep observation of you; I agree.