Three Reminders of The Human Condition Today
Even if you have been living like a solitary drudge for most of your life, you'd still have felt the effects of Covid-19 on your life.
Natural disasters, like earthquakes or tsunamis, trigger empathy and worldwide support towards the affected nations. But global pandemic may trigger a blur of other things.
As I stand this morning in my balcony watching empty streets and worrying about a maybe-soon-empty stomach, I find myself thinking about the current state of the human condition. Here is what I came up with.
Natural disasters, like earthquakes or tsunamis, trigger empathy and worldwide support towards the affected nations. But global pandemic may trigger a blur of other things.
- We Are Not Gods Yet: We are still animals —albeit a rational one. We have tech, but it's not that techy yet. We know we may not be alone in the universe, but we don't know for sure. We have raised life spans, but we've hit a horizontal asymptote. We are still vulnerable, weak and undeniably stupid. (Some even challenge the fact that we take this human rationality for face value. Hint: read the book "Predictability Irrational")
- We Publicly Devalue Selfishness But We Are Still Selfish: That's why we rush into panic buying. And that's also why we use "opportunities" like the spread of global pandemics to raise prices and make more bucks. We are disgusting.
- Deep Down We Are All Racists: And the Chinese aren't the only victim or target.