Are things more important than people?

Question

Food is a thing. Water is a thing. Shelter is a thing. People are optional, right?....

Answer 1

It depends on you mean by "important". If you mean important to sustain life then I guess food, water, and shelter is more important than companionship. However, if you mean importance in terms of sustaining a social infrastructure, to build a community, maintain human dignity, preservation of traditions, culture, and social mores, etc. then human relations and respect of human life is of utmost importance as well.

Even if you assume you can survive alone in a rich and abundant jungle with plentiful food, water, and a safe shelter, you would still crave for companionship. Humans are social animals and I think that is inherent in our genes and something that we can't escape from unless you are pathologically antisocial then perhaps you will be content to live alone with no meaning or purpose in life but to eat, sleep, and eat again until succumbing to sickness and old age.

Answer 2

Importance is a human value, so without any humans nothing has importance; things only have importance relative to us. So whether something is _more_ important that people depends on how you would define more important. Important enough to kill a person for? To kill lots of people over? Food and water may be very important for our survival, but if we ever get to the point of killing each other over these things, then they--and we--will have lost any real importance.

Answer 3

Without others to observe us, our lives mean nothing. If you were about to die, you'd rather have a person than a drink of water. If you had to choose between living forever and spending the rest of your natural life with people, you'd choose people.

The only thing that would make life without people fulfilling is intellectual exercise. Eventually, all rationalization leads to anthropomorphization of the universe. Without people themselves, the mind will keep the idea of people alive. Even the concept of people is so important that a world without humans becomes populated with spirits and friendly animals.

Because people in our lives are not actually separate entities, but exist always in the mind as constructs made of experience, it is impossible to remove 'people' from our lives. Therefore, the lack of people equals death.

People are definitely more important than things - at least to people.

Answer 4

According to that pyramid I think one's basic needs r food clothing and shelter and then other things come in. Then I guess one could survive without people. Only when these fundamental needs r fulfilled does the person think about other things. Then I guess these r more important.

Answer 5

They are equally important in terms of survival of the species. In fact, in terms of survival of the individual, it's a rare person that will survive very long in a situation of total social deprivation and loneliness.

Answer 6

things are important like people. its there for people and without people things are not there.

we are one and we are equal to every every every!

Answer 7

they can be equally importan but it all depends on the person and how you look at things and life.