After a year filled with examples of the people at their worst, I thought I would like to finish this year with a debate on that which is best in people.
I have had this debate before and for every positive you could find in a human, ie. Love, Kindess, etc…, you could turn into a negative. For example Love is shining example of what is best in a person when used to say…donate your kidney for a family member. However, Love for a persons God also causes them to blow innocent children up.
So what is it in people that when all is said and done redeems us from all the evil, stupid things we do? If you were an alien overlord looking down on Earth is there anything in human behaviour that could keep you from destroying the Earth for a super highway?
Redeem us from what? We are what we are-- no better, no worse. And although you’ve chosen to focus on the bad, there’s good and bad aplenty. One would be better served by simply looking at ways to improve one’s own life by being the best father/mother, brother/sister, friend or neighber that one can.
Mankind’s most notable attribute was his ability to take physical punishment. Whatever McMahon asked him to do, he would do, whether it was a chair to the head by the Rock or getting his nose busted open by Stone Cold. He bled a lot and put on a good show. In hat movie, Beyond the Mat he also seemed to be a pretty good father.
At least, that’s the coolest thing about civilization. Pick up a telephone, speak a few words, and soon, hot food is delivered to you. Unspeakably cool!
Pizza delivery and cat-pampering aside, I’m going to make a serious reply to the OP’s question.
From an alien POV, we are a species that is running amok, systematically disurpting every ecosystem on earth and causing a mass extinction of unique species that will never be seen again. But I think that our greatest accomplishment and redemption would be to export the lifeforms of Earth to lifeless planets, to give the Life of Earth another chance, and to continue what has to be the strangest and most wonderful experiment in the Universe.
I’m sorry, but you’ve all missed it. the single greates human achievment is sewage. That’s right bear’s shit in the woods, but humans devote industries to moving, cleaning, and storing the stuff. What allowed the Romans to conquer the world? Sewers. What is the single most important medical improvement we have made in the last 200 years? Sewers.
“Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.” - Tom Lehrer
“In the end, everything comes down to poo.” - Pervert
The fact that our historical direction seems to be positive. If you compare the world of today with the world of 100 years ago, today it is more free, more educated, more comfortable and happier than it was 100 years ago. Compare the world of 100 years ago vs. the world 500 years ago and you get the same thing. I assume the nature of humanity is to always push towards more freedom, more knowledge and more positive emotions. Even if there are bumps in the road by and large this seems to be the direction we are taking.
Why would alien overlords care? If one could and did wipe out entire planets at a whim singlehandedly, the only redeeming qualities acceptable to such a being would be those that he/she/it could directly exploit or enjoy. Let us then assume that the alien overlord is similar to a human being.
If we survived, it would probably be on account of boobs.
