We all want more of something, more money, more friends, more time. There is no end to the human's condition to want more and even those who say they are content, want more protection on their contentment. We are all greedy. I think the difference comes down to how we satisfy our desires, who and what are we willing to destroy to get what we want and how fast we are willing to lower our bars to achieve our aims. When does, Do no evil become Justify some evil. What is evil?
It is not for me to decide.
In the current world of instant gratification and maximisation of pleasure and minimisation of discomfort, how can we expect people not to be greedy at every opportunity they see, at every turn? Each of us are trying to improve but in so many areas, it is a zero sum game where one's improvement relies on the degradation of another, one benefits, the other pays. Time and time again it seems to be the same ones, the same groups paying the costs while others only skim. Middlemen living off the sweat and tears of those who provide for them.
The problem in crypto as I see it is that for the most part, the concepts of a more equitable world that benefits all is hot air as the space seems filled with the highest concentration of personal maximisers of any industry. With better skills and control, they would make the Wolves of Wall street seem like puppies still suckling milk from their mother. Add in the anonymity and the potential for the greed to satisfy needs intensifies as the needs become, anything desired.
It is the sickness that afflicts so many of the rich and powerful, a sickness where the money and the endless possibility becomes too much and the greed sets it eyes on new prizes, new highs. There is no wonder that is so much disgusting behaviour in Hollywood, so much twisted that goes on with the high-flyers as they continually search for greater satisfactions and their desires and entitlements creep further and further from the average until they are partaking in the most violent acts of oppression of the liberties of others.
Do they recognise their acts for what they may be of do they justify them through their deluded view that they are above others as they have more than others? Is it their arrogance that believes they are more deserving? And what of all those below willing to sell themselves to rise in the ranks in the hope to have their own twisted fantasies fulfilled? What of those who oppress the very people who support their rise, for to lift another is to use resources that could be used upon the self? At all levels, greed persists.
Where is the balance in this world, where is the equilibrium point where each person can have enough without encroaching on the needs of others. Does it exist? Perhaps a point of balance is impossible as there will always be those who will ramp up their requirements as they receive more, those who are never content with what they have and never grateful for all of those who sacrificed for them to have it. And, there will always be those who limit themselves, oppress themselves and toil endlessly so that others can have opportunity.
Well, perhaps there won't always be those, perhaps it will get to a point where all are maximisers with no end to desire but death. Maybe that is the purpose of human existence;
Greed til the end, the end of us all.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
In my country there is a tremendous crisis, an inflation of 14,000% and many have left the country for a better life, although I have not left the country at times, I think that those who left did not do it for the good of their country or their families, but because of greed to maintain their abundant state of life that we had here dissolve many wives families who leave and leave their husbands alone to seek money, but when they return they spend everything on alcoholic beverages and movie tastes while there are people who do he does not have to eat or medicine, as if nobody cares what happens to his colleagues, there is ego and pride
It's much easier to fit in to this selfish world than to build a new one, especially if you don't have the capacity to imagine the possibility of doing so, which most don't seem to have at least.
Monkey see, monkey do.
It's not going to change anytime soon in my opinion, unfortunately. We've been conditioned into the sheep we are and a big part of the conditioning is in how we react. I've been meaning to write a post about anger as a valid emotion for a long time now because I feel thats something we're collectively missing in our lives these days. I am all for conflict resolution and talking things through but at times, a good old fashioned bit of anger is what is really needed but most would believe that anger and violence are never warranted or acceptable. I disagree. Sometimes they're the only actions and emotions that are valid.
Sometimes I think I'm among the very few who can see how fucked up the world is, other times I feel like everyone can see it, deal with it and accept it and I just happen to be one of those who can't.
I still believe positive change can take place but I really can't see how or where from. Even the likes of us who see the futility in competing with one another are still forced to be a part of the system and concern ourselves with it, lending it more credibility and propogating our own system of enslavement. I really could give two fucks about money but I can't afford to feed that attitude if I want to feed my family. It's a bit of a catch 22.
I've always said that we've over-complicated life and our freedom will come with the simplest of acts or words. Time will tell.
These are questions that you ask knowing that you might never get a reassuring answer. Only few have to give and are contented with what they have
I still picked out that balance is impossible
Impossible for now anyways. Until a paradigm shift in mentality happens
Until then, we'd keep on preaching the gospel of contentment.
This is an area, almost everyone is guilty of
The ones who are greedy don't care how they get it. They can never have enough. No matter what they have ,they will want more. If they worked hard for it maybe they would think differently. A few do but most don't. I have a compassion and a caring and maybe that is what they lack. I would like to get to the top like everyone else but I do have my limits.
You are right, everybody always wants more.
Even those who would say they want nothing,
cannot say they do not want more happiness,
more laughter, more love, more fulfillment.
I find it interesting that so many people are
afraid of change, yet by wanting more of anything,
what they want is more change, for to gain more,
is to change your current situation.
How ironic, we want the most is the thing we are afraid of...
I've been thinking about this for a while and my answer, after analysing it, is that it's usually hard to get to a point where there are no "evils". When we end explicit slavery, there is implicit slavery, human trafficking, etc., and when we end those, there will always be people doing more evils. We can't end all evils.
Trying to end all evils usually ends up being a 1984 scenario where we have to create a Big Brother kind of entity to observe everyone and everything, to destroy all pretence of anonymity and transparency. And in the end, even if we destroy all of these evils, we will always have more preferences about what is good and what is bad in our current environment.
The endgame is just more and more evils for all of eternity. We can try to get there every day and it would be the ethically correct path of action, but there would never be a point where we can get to a no-evil environment or to a perfectly balanced state.
I think greed can be good or bad. I think it's good to want to do well in life but bad if you are being destructive and destroying wealth in the pursuit of your greed.
Sometimes I think we are dissatisfied we always want more than what we already have we become so greedy that it is not enough with what we already have sometimes this is good but sometimes not so much, we must enjoy one of the things we always want more is the money then we work and work for the end not having enjoyed beautiful moments that are worth more than money
The pursuit of more is the eternal blessing and curse of man. While it has enabled us demand better from ourselves, a lack of satisfaction means we are capable of just about anything (evil) to get it
We all want more, no matter how much we have acquired. Their is nothing like balance. We keep wanting more until we are no more... Smile
But contentment with what we have will help us not to be too bothered about what we don't have while appreciation will help us to value those that sacrifice themselves for our comfort...
What a wisdom sir.
My grandfather says, 'The need to have more than others is human and we are all built like that. Greedy and ever needing. But. How you acquire what makes you have more is what defines what kind of a person you are.'
'What I am trying to put across is, he adds. When you lie in your comfy bed at night then wake up to enjoy the good things in life the next day, ask yourself this... Who did I enslave to deserve this? How many dreams did I kill to be living large?
Who did I enslave to deserve this? How many dreams did I kill to be living large?
Slavery will never really end until 'more than others' is no longer viable.
Greed is bad thing in this world.
But its also a good thing. Everyone have greed for something in positive sense.
Like for job people do more study and more struggle for a good job.
For money everyone do their best.
So this world is made due to greed.
I want to become famous on steemit its some kind of greed for that i am doing my best on steemit. So its good for me.
I want to become a good person so its also a greed. For that i help others and think about others.
So greed is bad but also a good thing.
"We all covet something." Who doesn't want to be recognized? if that's the teaching we've been taught since we were kids.
From childhood, we are programmed and that programming is fixed on the chromosomes and passes from generation to generation, and is reinforced day by day, until the moment we try to enter into consciousness, but we are few who do it, others with their marginal thinking is enough to live - while they can solve their priority needs, are happy.
I wonder: what situation are you living in? The desiccation of life for life is useless; Jesus Christ could not change the world....
good views continue your appreciation
Yes you Right Sir and I agree with you, well its a nice article, keep it up, Thanks
I agree with you.There are some unique persons wich are showing us we can do it for less but....community push them to run,to want more so ,soon these persons becomes like all others, to want more and more..
Nice post
my friend greed and greed never go alone carry a bad thing that is called pride the human being at all times just to satisfy their needs, and many really do not care is the end result while they go with profits, a wise man said LOVE and Patience overcomes evil. excellent post
There is so much grist for the mill here, I don’t know where to start. Millions of years of evolution have wired us to want more for the genetic, propagation of our species reasons. But I think there is another reason, and that is the propagation of our beliefs about the world. These two motivations together can explain even the most aberrant human behavior.
Imagine someone with more money than they could ever spend. Why do they pursue more? Genetically speaking they have access to all the food and mates they need so now it becomes a psychological need. Maybe an ego boost or some other way to feel good. One way would be to use money as a scorecard justifying all manner of “evils.” In most cases, they understand the harm they are doing, making most non-psychopaths feel bad. So now they need to justify their actions.
The Ayn Rand worldview, allows those behaving badly to feel good about their actions. They misunderstand and misstate Darwin’s natural selection as “survival of the fittest,” or that we live in a “dog-eat-dog” world so they can act accordingly. This kind of thinking leads to eugenics and eventually genocide. This is where the propagation of false beliefs come from. The psychological need to feel good about ourselves.
What Darwin intended, and what evolution is really about, is balance. Natural selection finds a balance between predator and prey, parasite and host. One does not normally or naturally wipe the other out. In today’s world, Capitalism is seen by some as a panacea and any Socialism as a slippery slope to moral decay. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of reality and why we can’t solve our poverty and inequality problems.
In my view, the solution probably looks like nature itself. Some combination of Capitalism and Socialism that can be kept in check creating a balance that benefits everyone. When the whales get too powerful, the schools of minnows should have a way of replenishing and adding to their power while the whales lose power in a dynamic self-governing way. This is how nature works, and if it works for nature we should find a way it will work for us here.
It is the age old story mate. Those with more, never get enough off the backs of those who have too little. I don't believe that people that are prepared to step on others in order to gain more are capable of caring about anything. A sad truth that there very very very few people of financial means that would pause to help another.
Human nature that places itself so high above nature and yet can learn so much from it.