Autumn Asphodel

[gib]

Well, modern society is a breeding ground of mental illnesses where a majority of the population can be classified as being mentally ill in one form or another being the whole entirety of today's civilization is mentally unstable.

Exactly! And this is why I think the term "mental illness" is somewhat of a silly term. If everyone in modern society has a disorder of one form or another, then what's a "disorder"? <-- Starts to seem more like normal human behavior.

Today's leaders are not philosopher kings, they're the direct opposite. They're a bunch of weak cowardly and sniveling group of oligarchic schemers that go out of their way destroying all that is natural or wholesome out of life for a majority of people. When a real philosopher king comes into existence his first priority will be to execute and purge these people out of existence for they do not deserve the very air of breath into their lungs. They all need to be executed with their heads displayed publicly on pikes by that of decapitation. There cannot be any mercy or forgiveness shown to these people whatsoever, they deserve only death.

^ And it takes a philosopher to do this, huh? This is why I don't get into politics.

[Zero_Sum]

Well, modern society is a breeding ground of mental illnesses where a majority of the population can be classified as being mentally ill in one form or another being the whole entirety of today's civilization is mentally unstable.

Exactly! And this is why I think the term "mental illness" is somewhat of a silly term. If everyone in modern society has a disorder of one form or another, then what's a "disorder"? <-- Starts to seem more like normal human behavior.

Today's leaders are not philosopher kings, they're the direct opposite. They're a bunch of weak cowardly and sniveling group of oligarchic schemers that go out of their way destroying all that is natural or wholesome out of life for a majority of people. When a real philosopher king comes into existence his first priority will be to execute and purge these people out of existence for they do not deserve the very air of breath into their lungs. They all need to be executed with their heads displayed publicly on pikes by that of decapitation. There cannot be any mercy or forgiveness shown to these people whatsoever, they deserve only death.

^ And it takes a philosopher to do this, huh? This is why I don't get into politics.

Exactly! And this is why I think the term "mental illness" is somewhat of a silly term. If everyone in modern society has a disorder of one form or another, then what's a "disorder"? <-- Starts to seem more like normal human behavior.

Normal behavior, or a sick society that has infected people?

And it takes a philosopher to do this, huh? This is why I don't get into politics.

Action versus apathy and indifference, seems like you're choosing the later.

[James S Saint]

Rationality distinguishes mental illness (unless of course, you are one of the mentally ill).

[gib]

Normal behavior, or a sick society that has infected people?

Is the glass half full? Or is it half empty?

All I know is, the more populous a species becomes, the more diversity you'll find therein. There are between 7 and 8 billion people on this planet (last I counted). That's a lot of diversity.

Action versus apathy and indifference, seems like you're choosing the later.

The latter, you mean? Well, if you look at it from a Buddhist perspective, then yes.

[Zero_Sum]

Normal behavior, or a sick society that has infected people?

Is the glass half full? Or is it half empty?

All I know is, the more populous a species becomes, the more diversity you'll find therein. There are between 7 and 8 billion people on this planet (last I counted). That's a lot of diversity.

Action versus apathy and indifference, seems like you're choosing the later.

The latter, you mean? Well, if you look at it from a Buddhist perspective, then yes.

All I know is that overcrowding creates a sort of behavioral sink, look it up.

If Buddha was alive today he would probably shoot his own face off with a pistol.

[gib]

If Buddha was alive today he would probably shoot his own face off with a pistol.

Yeah... yeah probably.

[Zero_Sum]

If Buddha was alive today he would probably shoot his own face off with a pistol.

Yeah... yeah probably.

No thoughts on the behavioral sink?

[gib]

No thoughts on the behavioral sink?

My thoughts on behavioral sink are that it sounds like the breakdown of the population. This in turn reminds me of the cycles of growth and decline that all species go through as they continue to survive across several years. When a species' population grows significantly dense, the continued rise in the population begins to slow and eventually decline. After a significant amount of decline, it begins to grow again--sort of nature's way of maintaining population density.

Also note there's a difference between population size and population density. I would suspect behavioral sink to occur with higher population density but not necessarily size.

If you want to a call high mortality rate or cannibalism "disorders", be my guest, but it doesn't really negate my previous point that this is the expected behavior of species whose population density has grown too high.

[Zero_Sum]

No thoughts on the behavioral sink?

My thoughts on behavioral sink are that it sounds like the breakdown of the population. This in turn reminds me of the cycles of growth and decline that all species go through as they continue to survive across several years. When a species' population grows significantly dense, the continued rise in the population begins to slow and eventually decline. After a significant amount of decline, it begins to grow again--sort of nature's way of maintaining population density.

Also note there's a difference between population size and population density. I would suspect behavioral sink to occur with higher population density but not necessarily size.

If you want to a call high mortality rate or cannibalism "disorders", be my guest, but it doesn't really negate my previous point that this is the expected behavior of species whose population density has grown too high.

Beyond cannibalism there were other behavioral dispositions of the experiment that was more notable and illustrative. Well, for a single planet like ours density is everywhere.

[gib]

Beyond cannibalism there were other behavioral dispositions of the experiment that was more notable and illustrative. Well, for a single planet like ours density is everywhere.

I'm sure there were. My point isn't that these dispositions don't or shouldn't count as mental disorders, just that even in these cases their standing as mental disorders is still based on social constructs. We label it a "disorder" because we don't like it (or we think it needs to be fixed, or we think it's the equivalent of being sick, etc.). It's not intrinsic--there's no "mental disorder" virus running through their system.

Behavioral sink is an extreme example and makes one feel silly saying that it doesn't count as a set of mental disorders, so I'll concede that those probably ought to be labeled as mental disorders, but even in saying this, I still recognize my acceptance of this label as coming from a social function (that of signaling a condition that's undesirable or should be fixed/avoided).

Cannibalism in particular is an interesting case. For the most part, I'd agree that it probably counts as a symptom of things gone awry, and usually signals something wrong with society or the environment, but in other examples, it could count as normal behavior or even an evolutionary advantage. For example, many tribal societies partake in cannibalism. In those societies, cannibalism is looked upon as just a custom, a part of their culture, not a disorder. Or take the example of extreme food shortages. In those cases, a willingness to resort to cannibalism can be seen as an advantage. Those who are predisposed to resort to cannibalism could be seen as the "healthy" ones, those who do what's required to survive, whereas those who aren't are seen as the "weaker" ones, those who lack what's required to survive.

None of this is to say that cannibalism isn't a disorder. It isn't to say that it is a disorder either--rather, it is to say that what counts as a disorder and what doesn't depends on whether we see it as a good thing or a bad thing, a healthy thing or a sick thing, something needing to be fixed or something that can be left on its own.

^ That's my only point.

[Dan~]

I think humans are so spiritually inactive that they atrophy.
Some of them are overcome by new things that aren't all that powerful really.
So, some are lucky enough to spawn altars that are friendly.


Thanks to Zero_Sum i have now heard about Behavioral sink.