What's new

What non-physical items do humans need? [Philosophy]

LesMore

Top 8 Injustice Frosty Faustings VII
At the top of the list we need a stable earth enviornment to live.
That means no Oily water.
No Radioactive air.
A temperate climate to produce food.

Just think if society broke down for like two weeks. Week one everyone shows up to work at the nuclear power plants. But by the weekend of week one the roads become dangerous and people stop showing up to work. On Monday plants start melting down. Radioactive fires strart and there is no one to stop them.... Now take a look at a map and see how many plants are near you...There would be nowhere to hide.

Society has to keep going no matter what... the stakes are too high now.
I hope that's just a failed attempt at a bad joke. If you knew how De-evolved we are in contrast to the restof evolution, you'd reconsider that statement. Seriously....look at our naked defense mechanisms - no claws, no sharp teeth, no lightning-fast strikes loaded with deadly venom nor are we brightly colored and poisonous to eat, low-speed sprints minimizing escape from predators, self-destructive behavior, the only species that kills for reasons other than to eat, ....

The only thing we have is complex brains (which is arguably our downfall) and opposable thumbs.

As a matter of fact, we would lose back to to back to back fights w/ wildcats or wild canids that are merely a fraction of our size and weight. Humans are an evolutionary DEAD-END, my friend. We are at the BOTTOM of the fucking food chain, not the top.
I have a few issues with this statement.
As soon as I look at our naked defenses, I just think: I would make clothing. Seriously even if it just started off as a bunch of rubarb strung together with a vine....

Nothing in any forest besides a Bear can kill me. I will whoop the shit out of a Bobcat. Cause I will pounce out on it from under my rhubarb camo! No animals hunt humans Which Makes Us The Top Of The Food Chain...

A complex brain will beat every other creature on this Earth!!! Which is arguably the reason why we dominate the earth....
 

Relaxedstate

PTH|RM Relaxedstate
I hope that's just a failed attempt at a bad joke. If you knew how De-evolved we are in contrast to the restof evolution, you'd reconsider that statement. Seriously....look at our naked defense mechanisms - no claws, no sharp teeth, no lightning-fast strikes loaded with deadly venom nor are we brightly colored and poisonous to eat, low-speed sprints minimizing escape from predators, self-destructive behavior, the only species that kills for reasons other than to eat, ....

The only thing we have is complex brains (which is arguably our downfall) and opposable thumbs.

As a matter of fact, we would lose back to to back to back fights w/ wildcats or wild canids that are merely a fraction of our size and weight. Humans are an evolutionary DEAD-END, my friend. We are at the BOTTOM of the fucking food chain, not the top.
My brain allows me to observe and understand causal/correlation connections in nature. Thus I know that brightly colored frogs may be poisonous. Thus I avoid her... or rather I carefully extract her venom, imbue the sharp tip of a spear with it, throw said spear with unmatched accuracy (due to my phenomenal motor skills developed as a bipedal hominid.) Watch the spear sink directly into the heart of a ferocious beast (because I understand an animal can't live without a beating heart). Bring the food home and have a nice meal. O yeah....and ill cook it and throw some spices on dat just because I can!
 

Relaxedstate

PTH|RM Relaxedstate
LBSH: Technically speaking: things like love, happiness, (any emotive state) have physiological correlates in the brain....soooo technically something like love could be considered Physical. Love=Dopaminergic transmission throughout the pre-frontal cortex, as well as oxytocin release in pleasure centers of the brain (nucleus acumbens)... this is just a hypothesis though. Of course the phenomenological understanding and aspects of these events are quite removed in feeling from their molecular, physical underpinnings.
 

miloPKL

soundcloud.com/pukelization
This thread is so vague. Are you talking about what non-physical items humans need in today's society and time to be accepted as the norm, or just in general to survive? What part of the world are we talking about here? Most of the answers are likely going to be biased or related to how an experience in life has led them to believe so.

How is love a need? There are people out there that don't even know what "love" is and still continue living. Love for the same sex in certain countries will get you killed. So if you are trying to survive, this is the last thing you need to survive. Confidence is not a need, you can live your life without being confident as well. Religion is not a need to some, but for some it will become one if you plan to survive in a certain area.

So many variables and things come into play, this thread's question is pointless. There will be no right answer unless you specify the question and conditions better.
 

ToX

Noob
Love/Companionship. I remember seeing a theoretical physicist talking about love, he says he believes that the connection love brings actually exists on a quantum level. It was very interesting.

Also we need to be around other people. If you're left alone your whole life you will go mad.
 

miloPKL

soundcloud.com/pukelization
GUYS IM PRETTY UNIQUE AND DEEP AND A SNOOWFLAKE OK SO LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY WE JUST NEED LOVE AND HAPPINESS, SOMEONE TELL THAT TO ETHIOPA
 

Justice

Kombatant
GUYS IM PRETTY UNIQUE AND DEEP AND A SNOOWFLAKE OK SO LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY WE JUST NEED LOVE AND HAPPINESS, SOMEONE TELL THAT TO ETHIOPA
We aren't saying that food, shelter and Mortal Kombat aren't important to survival, we are just having a philosophical discussion about things that aren't physical that we need.

Back on topic: My employment councillors and teachers all spew constantly about Self Care.....
 

AREZ God of War

The Crazy BeastMaster
REO I'm not going to elaborate much, but people do need love, and even if they've never received it, they still crave it. People are hardwired to want to be close to at least one other person, probably because we can't really survive alone. Someone denied love especiallying when young has a hard time functioning.

AREZ God of War I don't know where you're getting your information from but most primates are social and mainly function as a community, not individuals.
No, I was referring to all OTHER living species. As in a large percentage of all extant species. I know primates are social, but many are not and if you consider the 75% of all species that exist are nocturnal, a very large portion of them are solitary. Most of Earth's social or socially-tolerating animals are diurnal.

On the other hand I disagree about love, needing it and craving it. The farther I stay away from people the less I feel myself needing social interaction, tbh. You just think you need it cuz you haven't taught yourself to go without it. it's totally understandable as well.

Are you saying that there isn't anything non-physical that humans need? Your mind doesn't need to be healthy along with the body?
Yes, that's exactly what i am saying...emotions are not necessary to survival and we would do just fine on our own if we have train ourselves to do without others. Needing other people to be OK is actually unhealthy and can be considered a form of codependency. The most mentally healthy people in the world can do just fine by themselves 24/7. You should be able to rely soley on yourself to survive.
Again, what I need to survive is probably much much MUCH less than the majority of you kids.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Premium Supporter
Knowledge, experience, and application.

This is based on an individual surviving by itself. If you were by yourself, isolated, I think you need the 3 above in order to survive.
 

Crathen

Death is my business
Goals , wheter it be love / dream / success / peace everyone follows a goal while he's living , when you don't have a goal life is meaningless and it's just survival.

It's funny that our society creates artificial goals to set a certain "way of life" when humans tend to be individualists ( this is not bad ) , i'd be glad if the "money" society ends tomorrow.
 

fr stack

Noob's saibot or noob saibot's?
we are a science experiment, that'l explain lack of tooth and claw , and decreased muscle mass compared to any other primate maybe our constant thought is an unintended side effect . i find this more believable than religion
 

Lumpymoomilk

Online Punching Bag
we are a science experiment, that'l explain lack of tooth and claw , and decreased muscle mass compared to any other primate maybe our constant thought is an unintended side effect . i find this more believable than religion
The starting of the movie prometheus seems as logical a scenerio as some of the other scenarios people have been told.
 

Flagg

Warrior
we are a science experiment, that'l explain lack of tooth and claw , and decreased muscle mass compared to any other primate maybe our constant thought is an unintended side effect . i find this more believable than religion
Allow me to chime in. Humans are primates, there is no debating that. Why do we not have the power of our cousins, that is due to what is going on between our ears. Evolving larger brains was a huge break through for us. It enabled us to develop tools and weapons, so over time we didn't need the power and agility of gorillas, chimps or orangutans.

Evolution is all about trial and error, about seeing what works. Usually when species evolve, they get better at something so that they dont have to do anything else.

Take all the birds that live throughout Polynesia, all of them built nests on the ground, because only birds and seals could reach these islands, no predators could get to them, so there was no need to build nests in trees. This is why when man discovered these islands, bringing things like cats and rats with him, it was bad news for ground nesting birds.

Another example is Darwins finches, finches all with different beaks living on islands near each other. Different food, required a different kind of beak to pick up, grab, and smash open food.
 

Chaosphere

The Free Meter Police
No, this thread is for what humans need, Need, that arent physical items.


As for faith, i believe we need it.
For whatever reason, when people see that word, they automatically think of religion. While its the most popular use of the word "faith," its not the entire and correct definition.

Please stop associating the 2 as being the same thing :3
Faith is belief without evidence. It is a religious word. The reason being that humans do not use faith for anything they believe outside of justifying religious beliefs. People have redefined faith in common language to mean "trust or confidence" but that's not what it means. It's just like people using the word "miracle" in everyday language to mean something that is good or amazing when it actually means a divine intervention from God that goes outside of natural law.

Faith is not something we need or is in any way beneficial outside of on the battlefield of war. That's the only time I can see it being useful. Faith is gullibility. It's an excuse for people to justify irrational thought and/or behavior.

If you can give me one instance of faith being used as a justification for believing something outside of religious beliefs, then you might have an argument.
 

fr stack

Noob's saibot or noob saibot's?
faith as a word was concocted by religous or power hungry groups for their own ends , example : our god is clearly better than your god lets go show how faithful we are by murdering your faithful :)
 

Killphil

A prop on the stage of life.
The best I can say is instead of physical things we NEED, how about the drive and knowledge to acquire the things we need? Like the motivation to get food, water, shelter, etc.? Non-Physical? Check. Still needed? Check.