By helping unfortunate people, are we ruining evolution's path and keeping human development stagnant?

Question

Is this keeping the human race from getting rid of crime, etc. (reaching utopia)

Why do people keep on going if they already know that they won't be contributing to human progression?...and that they are diluting the earths resources? Should "survival of the fittest" be applied to humans as well?

Starving or killing people directly or on purpose is not the question at hand. It is more about focusing on our own families, which we do already, but to complete extent. The fact is most people don't give of themselves on a regular basis, and when we do, it only happens during the holidays...as if the homeless only eat food on thanksgiving and xmas. People only show their parents praise on mother's and father's day. You get the idea.

As we speak there are people dying, even with the food and suplies that charity provides. So this question is is about "every man for himself" where resources are not being spread out. It is not about genocide, because there are people dying of starvation while we are here goofing around our computers. What are we doing right at this moment to keep as many people alive as possible, nothing! So just because we have a better quality of life, doesn't mean we are directly killing those who are dying at this moment.

Also this isn't about putting people out of their misery ( cancer and aids patients).

Thanks Nicolas, that was the type of discussion I was looking for. I know this may have seemed been better suited for the science section, but I wanted the question to be answered with subjectivity as well as objectivity.

Athena is right, the act of caring for others is ingrained into the higher forms of life. But there is also the flip side to that, the evil within us.

dmvs62442, so have we reached the plateau? As far as progression, there are alot of things we have yet to see come into fruition...cures for disease, world peace, etc... There are alot of people out there who are only concerned about their own welfare. The common case being a single person or a small group effecting the lives of the many, as in politics, white collar crimes, etc. Why is it that even though the good outnumber the bad, evil still exists?

Answer 1

Why do our medicines keep people living longer, are they destroying germs and diseases that would otherwise have killed off the sick and frail. Are the sick and frail keeping their DNA stream alive for their descendants, which result in a less healthier progeny? Is the last 200 years change in medicine and technology equal to the 100,000 thousands or millions of years of evolution? The brief period of our 'interference' in the evolutionary process would seem minimal...at least from the long range perspective.

Answer 2

I think most people here have already given you an answer but "survival of the fittest" shouldn't be applied to humans. For one thing, being human means so much more than just surviving physically.

(What exactly it means is a different story) but just because certain people are stronger or richer or just smarter doesn't mean that they're what's best for the human race to move forward.

I think it'd be inhuman and sort of mindless if everyone just helped themselves rather than eachother. Humans don't just crave food and wealth but also friends, right? It might've been about strength in numbers at the beginning and even now, it helps to have friends to back you up but the reason people stay together and help each other as a community is no longer that they just need to survive.

"Survival of the Fittest" is a joke. It's used now as a phrase to describe competition but not the race to survive. It doesn't even make sense today. If humans never helped another person in need, lots of people wouldn't be here today, including the guy who came up with "survival of the fittest".

Need I say more?

Answer 3

We are not in a survival situation. The American Indians used to abandon the old and the infirm. Malformed children were killed as were those of breach birth. The nordic races did the same as did the the Greecian Spartans. All who believed they had a crisis of survival.

Survival of the fittist has the problem expounded by Gandalf. "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For not even the wise can see all ends."

Answer 4

We evolved to care for members of our own species because species that did not care for each other were eliminated from the gene pool. Interdependency is far superior than independence, and our species has evolved to be better than all other species due to our social networks and caring for our own species in selfless ways. This and our intelligence has made us to dominate the planet. So no, we are not ruining evolution's path, we are following it.

Evolution is still occuring in the human species. Those who use birth control or abort their babies are being eliminated from the gene pool.

Now on the other hand there is a natural balance between order and chaos. Anytime you have too much order, chaos will come in to balance out the order. If there is too much chaos, then order will balance out the chaos. There is opposition in all things. For example, a people with perfect government become apathetic, and soon the government becomes corrupt. Then there is revolution and order is put back in to place. Also, gas prices staying low is too much order that if chaos is not introduced into the gas prices to balance out the order, then the chaos may come in one giant burst when there is no fuel and chaos overflows when no one has prepared. A little bit of chaos motivates us to restore order in different ways instead of great disaster.

So helping each other out is an attempt to restore order from chaos and preserve our own species.

Answer 5

How would having a society of only fortunate people ever help us progress into a better society? If you take away all the dumb kids from a class room and leave only smart kids you will have no chance for the smart kids to learn how to teach and they will inturn become stupider not smarter. Trying to force evolution almost always turns out poorly. Just ask the Bee's

Answer 6

Our world is not perfect by any means! There is still a great deal we can do to help our fellow man! One way would be for our elected officials to do their job, rather than try to find ways of getting richer themselves at our expense!
If we were not at war overseas, there would be more money here for programs to get people off of the streets, into jobs and then into their own homes!
Putting people down, or your theory of survival of the fittest is much to close to what Hilter wanted to do! Get rid of everyone he considered inferior! Starting first with retarded people, then on to gypsies, then on to homosexuals, and then on to the Jews!
If this is your idea of getting 'rid of unfortunate people' then I don't t think I would care to live in your world!!

Answer 7

evolution is not a spiritual plan on a path to a goal (utopia) as your question suggests. it is just a chemical process that would be just as happy to fizzle out as to continue forever.
with the exception of the few species here now, evolution's "goal" for all living things has been extinction.
your reasoning suggests that creatures that have been evolving as a species the longest (and the most selfishly) are closest to utopia. yet, sea turtles and crocodiles seem to suffer the same miseries as the rest of us, even more.

Answer 8

I think... Those who in private life behave well towards their parents, Brod and the others, in public life seldom show a disposition to resist the autority of their superior. and as for such men starting a revolution, no instance of it has ever occurred. It is upon the trunk that a human works. When that is firmly set up, the way grows, and surely proper behaviour towards others is the trunk of goodness...hm..Clever talk and a pretentious manner are seldom found in the good. That is all.

Answer 9

Survival of the fittest should not apply to humans as well unless you are into Genocide - start with every hospital. Kill everyone over 65 years old. Kill sick kids, Cancer? - death sentence literally. Nuke the jails. Bulldoze away poverty. I still say survival of the fittest should not apply to us and anyway the cream will always rise to the top & we will still have an us & them society.

Answer 10

The mechanism of evolution theory is still a myth (or not well understood) !!!

Also "survival of the fittest" is very relative when applied to human beings. One may be fit under some circumstance but not other (SS under Hitler successful ?)

Hence - if "evolution's path" by killing off the so-called "unfit" - hence diversity - may led to Extinction of ALL (Dinasaurs disappeared but not others!)

In short - Be extremely careful when applying "Theory of Evolution" to human or other living forms (ex. gene modified food, clone animal...)

Cheers