Does more power make something better?

Question

In response to the question about why people think they are better than animals, a lot of people brought up the power and control we have.

1. If this were the wild, we would not be at the top neccesarilly. There are animals that are faster, stealthier, and I think more clever in some ways.

2. Does us having power really make us "better". Is the bully at school actually better than us because he is bigger? Are government officials better than us because they have more authority?

Answer 1

Well, I do not think we're better than animals, but the greatest human advantage is the ability to adapt. Some animals make use of technology (only one way of adaptation), but it is obviously very basic. Nothing comes close to what humans have achieved. You're right: as individuals, we would not be at the top in the wild; however, it is our power in groups and our power to analyze and make changes to both ourselves and our circumstances that make us superior in terms of victory or defeat.

But when you speak of better in another sense, you must define the term. Our civilization is largely built around rules that allow us to live together without rampant theft and violence, but these things are not uncommon in the wild. I do not accept that anyone with more strength is automatically more authoritative in "spirit" because I've been raised by a society that believes it. However, it is undeniably true that that which has more strength is more authoritative physically, and many of us find ourselves inevitably subject to that force.

I'd like to leave you with one last thought:

Isn't majority rule, the basis of democracy and all its forms, just another form of "might makes right?" This is the problem with all governments, and it cannot be solved. We make allowances for the sake of co-existing.

Answer 2

No actually these are all bodily conceptions based on our karma. So one is materially so called more powerful in certain ways but like you said some animals have more abilities than us. Look at birds we can't fly like them what to speak of flies and other bugs. and fish can swim under water and the list goes on. So we are all eternal spirit souls. The soul is the same size no matter what body it is in. The proof of the soul is the life within. The soul is what makes the body alive. So anything alive has a soul. The soul is one tenthousanth of the tip of a hair in size says the ancient Vedas. The Bhagavad Gita as it is Translated by pure saint and spiritual master Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada is the science of the soul and everything. Animals eat sleep mate and defend as do humans but the only thing humans have that animals don't is the intelligence to realize their eternal relationship with God. (also known as Krisna, Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, etc.) If a human neglect this opportunity in this life then in the next they may go back down to animal species or lower. Lower mean lower in consciousness.Consciousness means level of realizing our eternal true self and relationship with God. for info go to harekrisnatemple.com Read it on line on asitis.com Then we can see things as they truly are.

Answer 3

Just because we are a little more evolved, does not make us any better.
As for the church lady, well, guess without the flippin human race, we wouldnt have to be worrying about massive oil spills now would we?

I think what it all boils down to and depends on, is which is in their "Natural Habitat or Element"

I know that if I were dropped into the middle of jungle with nothing, i wouldn't last any longer then an animal randomly dropped in the middle of rush hour traffic on the free way!

Blessings To You And Yours
)O(
Trinity

Answer 4

What makes you think we're better? Sure we have a larger brain pan, sure we have an opposable thumb. But ponder this: the apparently "smartest" life form on the planet fails because of limited adaptation. Bacteria will have power on this planet (and always has had) because of the ability of the multitude to adapt faster than the environment around it changes.

Your question mixes feelings together in a way that detracts from what you originally sought.

Answer 5

Better? No, that's a relative phrase... better at what, or in what way?

Power = Responsibility. You have power over that for which you are responsible, and you are responsible for that over which you have power.

In the event this function is made unequal (as in power used irresponsibly), it becomes a dysfunction and the relationship becomes unstable and is ultimately doomed. There is no harmony in it; it can't last.

Answer 6

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.


I guess paying attention in English Lit class paid off! LOL

Answer 7

bacteria has been around million of years before humans. There is already a super bacteria for which there is not any effective anti-bacterial meds for. There is a very good chance that bacteria will cleanse the earth of it's human infestation.

Answer 8

more power doesnt make us better,since you mentioned if the bully at school is actually better than us i would say that just because the bully is bigger and stronger than the other doesnt make him better,because the bible says that wisdom is better than strength Ecc9:16.having wisdom is better than having power,or strength.wisdom makes something better.

Answer 9

ask Tim the Toolman Taylor

Answer 10

Look, "HappyKid", can animals clean up massive oil spills? I don't think so. Only we can.

Only we have that kind of care for the Earth.