Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with humanity

Help me track down a quote from Martin Luther

relucent — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:05:42 -0800

Help me find a quote from Martin Luther about humanity being a drunk man who falls off his horse on one side, and then gets back on and falls off the other side. A quote from C. S. Lewis in "The World's Last Night":

"For my own part I hate and distrust reactions not only in religion but in everything. Luther surely spoke very good sense when he compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it next time on the left. I am convinced that those who find in Christ's apocalyptic the whole of his message are mistaken. But a thing does not vanish—it is not even discredited—because someone has spoken of it with exaggeration. It remains exactly where it was. The only difference is that if it has recently been exaggerated, we must now take special care not to overlook it; for that is the side on which the drunk man is now most likely to fall off."

I would very much like to know where Martin Luther said this, and what the exact quote is. But Lewis doesn't cite it.

I did some heavy Googling and found another book that referenced Luther's horse analogy, called "Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong" by William Kilpatrick. He cites all of his sources very thoroughly, but Google Book Search decided to randomly leave out that page of the index from the book preview. So I bought the book (used), because I REALLY REALLY want to know where this came from – and of course... he doesn't cite that partular reference at all.

Can anyone track down this quote for me?

Examples of Long-Term Projects?

theefixedstars — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:07:16 -0800

I'm looking for examples where people invest work in projects that they know they will never live to partake in the outcome. I am already familiar with the Long Now Foundation and many examples mentioned in Stewart Brand's book, so as much as I'm awed and inspired by all of that, I'm looking for a larger universe of examples. Historical examples would be especially prized. Also if there is some sort of terminology/theory/readings about this from other perspectives -- anthropological, psychological, what have you, I'd love to hear about them.

I thought I was the only one who thought I was the only one...

phrontist — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:50:14 -0800

Is there a term for that feeling when you realize someone else notices (or notices in a particular way) something you had never thought of anyone else paying attention to, or viewing similarly? This American Life (the radio show) is a good example of that feeling... kind of "Oh man, I can't believe other people feel that way or notice that" (David Sedaris aims for this, and whether you find him funny seems to depend on whether you react this way to him). This thread, and askmefi in general, is also good example. The humor of many of the Cohen brother's films, in particular The Big Lebowski, seems largely derived from this. Walter, in that film, is not just amusing as an imagined person, but because the coen brothers seem to be saying "isn't it funny how some people are like this". Another example would be when you learn a new word for something you'd never considered other people considering - I felt this way about "phosphenes". Ya know what I mean?

What to do now to improve the human race in the long term?

fabius — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:38:30 -0800

What things could one person do now to best progress human civilization in the long term (ie, millions of years)? I recently read Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. Written in 1930 it describes the waxing and waning of human civilizations (and evolution of the species) over hundreds of millions of years.

It gives one an extremely long-term perspective on humanity. Once it gets going the author necessarily never describes individual people, because the scale is so vast. Whole branches of human evolution can be dealt with in a single paragraph.

But despite this it left me wondering: what things could individuals do that would progress human civilization, even if only a tiny, tiny amount? What actions now, or over the lifetime of a 21st century human, would improve the lives of humans in the distant future? What would increase their chances of survival, their evolution, their culture, their technology, their politics, their... anything.

What can we do now to move the human race forward on an extremely long term basis?

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst

anoirmarie — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:38:56 -0800

Can anyone help me find any books, serious or not, on surviving a global catastrophe (of any kind), and/or any books with a central theme of love and hope (as a sort of guide to living happily while dealing with an extreme anxiety over the future of the planet and humanity)? Perhaps this is a little broad, but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. These recommendations will be given to an avid reader in his mid-twenties with a terrific sense of humor, but who is struggling with anxiety in regards to the future, i.e the destruction of the planet, raising a family in a post-apocalyptic environment, etc. etc. Anything sincere, anything funny. Please.

not everyone is dying and being maimed and raped, right?

nadawi — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:40:53 -0800

where can i find faith in humanity online? i try to be a positive person, but it's hard when all i read is about how humans are just awful to each other at every turn. i'm a realist and agnostic so sites filled with perky women who want to talk about how every life is precious and jesus loves everyone aren't going to cut it. i'm looking for sites that talk about people being good to other people or people making a difference.

Teaching resources about racial concepts: their biological validity and various cultural expressions

LobsterMitten — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:22:51 -0800

I need teaching resources about race: the biology of human "races"; why "race" is not biological but social; how racial categories have shifted over time and place; and related questions on teaching about race? This is as a supplement to reading The Mismeasure of Man in a university "Critical Thinking" class. I need more science and verifiable cross-cultural examples to back up my "there are no biological races" claim. Give me your best clear, scientific teaching resources (websites, books, examples) about why the idea that humans belong to different biological races has been discredited.

Two objections I'm especially interested in answers to:
1. Sickle cell anemia, Tay Sachs disease etc. Some groups do have biological characteristics in common (eg susceptibility to certain diseases). Why not then say that race has some usefulness in making biological predictions?

2. "Why are blacks such great athletes? I heard they have extra tendons in their legs, and more ATP." (!!!) I have a student who is very attached to racial categories. What do scientists make of the observation that, for example, many Kenyans seem extra well-suited to be long distance runners? Is there any good science on this?

Another request - evidence that race categories are arbitrary and shifting.

3. Pictures and info on different racial categorization systems that have been used in different places and times -- the more different from present-day USA, the better.

4. Sources of quotes etc on past racial categorizations (eg, the filthy Irish) that would discriminate against people who would now be considered "white".

Bleeding heart tired of the blood...

every_one_needs_a_hug_sometimes — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:26:36 -0800

Help me trust my gut instinct, and not feel bad about using stereotypes, in regards to teaching to pretty much life in general. As someone who has been discriminated against quite a lot, I'm more than aware of the horrible power of stereotypes. I moved to the United States when I was 12 and didn't really speak English very well, and was very aware how that influenced the way people treated me.

And so, now that I'm relatively assimilated, and I'm part of the mainstream, so to speak, I try not to put people into boxes or treat them unfairly... there are often times, I think, that I do the opposite of what my gut instinct tells me to do in order to be fair, but it almost always burns me in the end, especially when it comes to teaching and tutoring. Please help me overcome my middle-class guilt, and help me become a better teacher.

I work for a rather expensive test preparation company, which means that I get to teach quite a lot of different classes in a relatively short amount of time, and in a wide demographic area. I find that more and more often, my first impression of a student (or a class) is almost always right, and I work very hard to do the opposite of what I think I should do, in order to be fair or kind, and it just never works out...

For example, after the first three hour class, I'm pretty sure who the good students (the ones who care) or the bad students (the ones who are there because their parents want them there) are going to be, and I'm always right. Or I know that a class is going to be good, or it's going to be bad, just based on the geographic area or how well the students are dressed, and I'm always right. I feel bad about this, because I worry about self-fulfilling prophecies and so fourth, and so I try to overcompensate, and it makes me sad when what I expected end up being true despite my hard work.

I guess to be respectful to the students, I'm just going to try to be vague and specific at same time...

One recent example, I was teaching a math review course, and I had one student who was the typical surfer dude. My first impression then, after teaching him for three hours, was that he's going to have a hard time with the course, based on the questions that I ask him and based on his reading the questions aloud in class. (He didn't read very well.) So what I do is I offer him extra after class help and additional tutoring for free just out of my own time to get him where he needs to be... of course, he didn't take me up on the offer, saying that it wasn't necessary and so on and so on... and then of course, 4/5 of the way through the class, he just got up frustrated and left saying that he just couldn't do it, and that I was terrible teacher -- when, of course, everyone else followed along just fine.

Another example, I tutor this kid, whom I really like, and he recommended me to another kid that he knew. After talking to this other kid, I realized that he was going to try to pay for it on his own, and that he couldn't really afford it. The immediate impression I got was that he was going to give me a hard time, since he was a junior and hadn't had Algebra II yet, and the e-mails that he wrote me were always full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. On top of that, where usually I talk to the parents, I could never get in touch with his parents, and could only get in touch with him through e-mails -- so I felt that his parents weren't really involved, and I felt bad for him.

So then I thought, this kid is having a hard time, and though my impression was that he wasn't going to be the brightest student, he's motivated and I respected that, and he was coming from a disadvantaged background, so I offered to tutor him for free for 10 hours, as long as he paid for photocopying the materials. And of course, he ended up accusing me of trying to scam him somehow -- saying that I had promised to tutor him for free, but now suddenly want him to pay for the materials... That I had lied and misled him and wanted to him to pay me after all. It was obvious to me that he had problems reading and writing, but I had clearly written that I would give him my time for free as long as he paid for the photocopies (which weren't much, but I was already going to drive an hour to tutor for an hour for free). It just really drove me insane.

And I find this all the time. My first impressions are always right. I have no problem when my first impression of a kid is that he or she is going to be a great and dedicated student, but I always feel guilty when my first impression is that a kid is going to give me a hard time -- and because I feel guilty, I work extra hard and invest a lot of myself trying to help him or her, only to always inevitably find out that things will turn out the bad way I expected in the first place...

So yeah, these are just the two most recent of many humiliations that I've suffered just as a private test prep teacher... Of course, I am occasionally surprised by the super good kids, but for whatever reason it's when my students disappoint me that affect me the most.

I find that stereotypes are almost always right. Certain types of kids will have their parents constantly involved, certain types of kids will have their homework completed every single class, and certain types of kids won't give a damn at all and talk over me when I'm trying to teach. I am more and more disappointed everyday when I put in extra effort to help low achieving students out, and I feel more and more bigoted every time my first impression turns out to be right after all. Is this just a part of life? Do teachers here have experiences that I could learn from?

The one thing that I'm grateful for, is that at least I did this before actually becoming a full time teacher... it's just sad... I have friends who signed up for Teach for America knowing that it was going to be hard, but was going to do it anyway because they really believed in teaching... only to find themselves being under supported by their schools and being physically and verbally abused by their students, and then quitting half-traumatized. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Please help me justify following my gut instinct and first impressions and not feel bad about it. I feel awful about not treating all students equally, in so much as giving them all the benefit of the doubt... But I'm seriously just tired of getting burned out emotionally trying to fight against the tide. I am reminded of the whole "a conservative is just a liberal who got robbed on the way home" (or whatever). Despite my desire to do good, I'm learning more and more that... I just can't. I'm tempted to just be elitist, and screw the poor and illiterate people and let them fend for themselves...

In general, I am just a schmuck. I always feel guilty about my first impression if it is a negative one, and I overcompensate by going against my instinct. I lend money out to friends whom I know aren't worth it, because I feel bad for thinking that they won't pay me back. What I remind myself of is that saying, where you don't have to taste poop to know that it's bad, but in my case, because I feel guilty about thinking negatively of poop, I have to taste it just to give it a fair chance. Help me not do this anymore. Please.

Is humanity still evolving?

azriel2257 — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:58:13 -0800

Is health care technology impeding our species' ability to evolve and adapt? I've heard debates that the human species has stopped evolving because our evolving health care technology has stopped the process of natural selection. This would, in theory, make humanity less able to adapt to change (ie an ice age), and weaken our gene pool.
Another idea that I have heard expressed on this topic is that genetic engineering (a future possibility) will reverse this stagnation.
I would like to find out more information on this topic so any suggestions on papers/websites to read, or any opinions would be great. I've already read the thread at http://ask.metafilter.com/40631/Swim-Walk-Fly.

Thanks!

Is Habitat for Humanity fun?

shivohum — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:57:46 -0800

Is Habitat for Humanity fun? How does living (or not living) in the volunteer housing affect the experience? Tell me about your experiences...

Lumpy Earth---gravity's effects on us?

amberglow — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 09:56:35 -0800

Gravity/Life/SocietyFilter: So the Earth is all lumpy, with more or less gravity in some places. Has anyone ever corroborated it with life/social/world things? Many questions inside... --is life worse there for people or better?
--is a place like the Middle East, which has seen almost continual strife since recorded history a place of denser gravity? or of the opposite? (it's also the where civilization first developed) or was it lighter and now heavier?
--have breakthroughs in various fields tended to happen in lighter places or heavier? have wars? have long stretches of peace? have healthier populations? etc?
--was the change from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance a result of the lightening of gravity in the area?
--does it have any effect on us? i would think it would, no? Is there a depressing or generally bad effect of more gravity on us?

We're very much creatures of our environments, and there are places with lots of energy and buzz (NYC, Bombay, etc), and places that are sleepy and quieter, even when geography matches (Pittsburgh, or Amsterdam, etc). And we're affected by things like the moon and its movements, and by sunshine and the weather and pressure, etc.

Why not gravity too?

How long could humanity survive if the sun is destroyed?

John Kenneth Fisher — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:08:38 -0800

Terrorists destroy the sun.... How long does humanity survive??? (the inside... there's more???) If, hypothetically, the sun were to blink out of existence, how long would humanity be able to survive? I'm assuming our planet would stay intact and not slam into other planets, and just be spun out into space to freeze. With all of our technology, (assuming, say, a week's notice. Long enough to prepare what we have, not long enough to use anything we DON'T have,) how long until the bulk of humanity freezes? One day? Two? and what about those (think high level government) with access to resources to try to survive? Could they pull out a week, a month?

Thoughts?

Why were people in the 1800s smart about engineering while dumb about medicine?

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 06:44:28 -0800

Why were people in olden days so smart about some things, but so dense about others? (more inside) Specifically: How is it that people knew enough to build huge ships that could sail thousands of miles, navigating by the stars, and enough to engineer huge, ornate buildings that would outlive them by hundreds of years, but it took until the late 19th century to figure out that splashing a little alcohol in a wound, and on surgical instruments, could reduce infection? How could no one have discovered this? They had alcohol -- wouldn't you think just through blind luck or trial and error, over millions of incidents of wound treatment, they would have uncovered this? Why was "cleaning a wound" such a foreign concept to them? They cleaned clothes, floors, their own bodies, etc. but nobody noticed that a clean surgical environment had a salutory effect?

Quotation about watching the swirling mass of humanity

uncanny hengeman — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 18:21:35 -0800

Quote help. I'm looking for a quote where a guy talks about being on top of a hill of sorts, watching the swirling mass of humanity below. He says it in kind of a boastful way, how he almost observes with amusement.

My Google-fu isn't working. I've tried dozens of combos of keywords with no luck. (Trouble is, I don't know if I've remembered the keywords properly.)

Information Age books

oog — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:28:03 -0800

I'm looking for any books (or studies), recommendations that might tackle the dynamics and relationships of repression/suppression psychological mechanisms and profit-driven media in the so-called "Information Age," and its possible effect in societies.

I'd love to see serious research into the current notion that humans are indeed straying from preexisting social formations thanks to electrical and electronic communication systems (i.e. "growing desensitized"). Thanks in advance. Any related info is welcome, and truly appreciated. Psych majors/graduates? Social theory majors/graduates? P.S. Would we be able to truly grasp historical change in torture/victim psychology thanks to such new technologies from our current standpoint?

Is BEHEADING & BUKKAKE emails making us LESS PARTICIPANT?