Competition and survival have been a huge discussion topic
in the majority of the readings. But why do we so fiercely compete with one
another? Perhaps without competition nothing could be accomplished as we would
have no drive to do anything, nor would we have an end goal to reach which
would require us to do better and go beyond what someone before us had done.
However,
now because of how modern we have become, competition in its most primitive
form in not such a huge problem. We do
not have to go out and kill our food; talking instead of battling to the death
can solve our issues and problems. But is this really the way forward?
Perhaps if
we still had that sense of drive, which only could really be achieved, by our
lives being in danger we would be even better then we are now. We have become
spoiled by the endless possibilities and how easily accessible our resources
are to us. With that being said, as everything is easier, we strive to be even
better amongst what we know and what we believe to be the best at.
Take for
example, athletes and scholars. Athletes choose to go above their physical
thresholds and even risk their bodies and one could also argue their pride to
win. Although sports and athletics, people argue aren’t mentally enduring they
really test the limits in respect to how much one’s body can take. Sports are,
in a way, an art, almost a dance that people take for granted as they just see
the aesthetic side of all, throwing and catching. However, along with that
throwing and catching comes agility, and the mental strength to carry on even
when everything is aching. I think that the survival and ability to push
through when one’s whole body is competing against them, telling them to stop
is when our animalistic primal senses begin kicking in. We start to believe
that if we don’t carry on then they’ll be no point in going on, that without
this final step can we not be complete.
Scholars on
the other hand, have a lust for learning, a desire to know everything and go
forward preaching all of their newfound knowledge. Knowledge, information to them is like food,
without knowing what else is to come they feel empty. There is a certain
thirst, which comes with it all, the desire to need to know more, the push to
understand and interpret. In a way, athletes and scholars are very similar,
they both know what they want and will go through all of the emotional pain in
order to claim it.
Maybe we
have started to believe that without the certain motivation to do well, nothing
can come of us. This, perhaps is making us not as lazy as we could be, perhaps
if we avoided how easy everything can come to us would we start to learn and grow
more as people, entering our actual states of living.
I am very interested in your thoughts on competition. Bringing up the fact that we do not kill our own food and fight for our survival, like humans in the past is very engaging. We have become lazy; we drive instead of walk. Obesity is a huge issue these days, whereas before it wasn't even fathomable. The things we can accomplish today are incredible. The technology that has been created and widely used seems almost impossible. Today, we have created the ability to do everything quicker and easier than at any other point in the past. This, as you point out, is good because we can accomplish more, get more out of what we have. But, as you also point out, is this a poor development in human life? It has allowed us humans to be, as you put it, "lazy" and "spoiled". And you are correct. These days there are places that are called fast food restaurants. You can literally order something, and get it three and a half minutes later. Humans used to hunt their food down, use the animals bodies for sustenance, shelter and clothes. Not only are we lazier now, but we are so far away from the natural world. We have become reliant on the unnatural: phones, computers, instant food, clothes from stores...the list goes on and on. But does this make us lazy, or is this just evolving? The things humans can do at this point in time are completely amazing. However, they may also be classified as lazy. It is interesting that you bring up athletes as well, because athletes seem to be the closest thing to the original humans. Most sports are contact sports, therefore you could get hurt, as past humans could have when hunting for food, or finding firewood for warmth. Athletes compete. They want to be the best, they want to win. Athletes are almost never considered lazy, seeing as they use their bodies and aim to win. Yet, still, athletes are not past humans. They still get off the field and check their text messages. Scholars, athletes, and everyone else, will always be lazy in comparison to those humans who were here before us. We do compete in everyday situations, but we do not compete like humans used to. We will probably never again do what they used to do, so we will forever be "lazy".
ReplyDeleteI would argue that drive and competition still very much exists in our society. However, it has it evolved as we evolved, taking on new forms. People are constantly competing to do something better and more efficiently than the last guy. What it means to survive has changed as well. At the beginning of human evolution, humans were struggling to stay alive. Now that we no longer have to fight for our lives on a daily basis, it’s only natural that our instinct to compete should turn towards something else. We compete to thrive, and go beyond our fellow humans. One’s measure success in life no longer has to do with the physical limitations of being stronger. Our mental superiority has made the need for physical superiority an irrelevant factor in our survival as a species. You say that our advances in technology have made us lazy, but actually they are just adjustments to our way of life. They have brought us above the competition with other species.
ReplyDeleteYou say that we now can use “talking instead of battling to the death [to] solve our issues and problems.” However, I staunchly believe that this is absolutely not the case. I would cite the proliferation of wars and violent conflicts all around the work in the past century as evidence that we certainly have not evolved past killing each other to get what we want. Though it is true that many of the wars being fought presently, and over the past fifty years, have revolved around social and political issues rather than resources necessary for survival. Although, one could also say that the resources we have deemed necessary (oil) for our survival, i.e. for our economies and societies to function, are deeply intertwined with these political issues.
Overall I do not think that we have grown “lazy” in our existence. I certainly think we are still competing because of our early evolutionary experience, and that we are therefore naturally inclined to compete with one another. It is not that competition has declined or disappeared, it’s just the name of the game that’s been changed.
Just the other day I was mentioning that it seemed strange that we as humans have constructed all the physical games to compete against one another and show our physical capabilities through organized athletics. I think it's interesting to think that perhaps this is a result of the fact that humans are no longer competing against other animals--that is, the early stages of the human species and not the actual human species. Humans still have the survival instinct, yet we are able to organize all that energy and exert it into exact actions. By having competitive sports, humans are still able to meet their natural inherent drive of competition & survival, just in a less drastic circumstance.
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