John "nice SAT teacher" Ma recently said that humans are the only beings that understand the world, the minds of other people, and the minds of animals. I, being who I am, was skeptical about his statement. Amongst humans, I have always felt that there was a sense of superiority over the other animals, and even over the world. I think it would be interesting to pinpoint and explore some of the key aspects of life that humans have conquered.
By studying this topic, it can possibly lead to insight about human corruption, as well as a less cocky attitude. This is definitely a broad topic, and feel like Andy has covered some aspects of it during the past year (i.e. conquering: birth, food/land and the animal unit for the other class). But I was thinking that we could also explore how we conquer:
- Our bodies - not letting nature take its course on building our bodies- not using it for survival, instead we go to gyms and act as a hamster in a wheel
- Our minds - education through MP3 files and sleeping
- Animals - not only looking at how we, ourselves, are animals, but why an animal has the right to imprison another animal as a pet?
There are certainly many other things from nature that humans take and manipulate for their own convenience and display of power. But are these actions truly beneficial to the world as whole? And can the world not live on without the big brother to hold it together?
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Great.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Ishmael by Daniel Quinn from the library and then also - for a sense of how destructive this culture is - based on the idiotic speciesism of people like your nice SAT teacher - read this
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/magazine/12whales-t.html
i think our bodies hold a major key to insight into our situation and reality. and our relationship with other animals holds a key to our bodies. so i think you're on a very important path here.