I believe that there is more bad than good in the world

[Darkover]

When I look at the whole world in its entirety, it seems to me like bad things are the norm. Look at things like poverty, inequality, corruption, unfairness, greed, lies, war, hate, violence, injustice, ignorance, selfishness and etc. etc.

If you compare these things to good things like kindness, empathy, justice, love; it seems to me those bad things outweigh the good things.

it's your bias which causes you to focus on the positive over the negative - It's possible your individual life does contain more good than bad, but to extrapolate from this that life in general contains more good than bad is another cognitive distortion

It's obvious that quality of life for most people has improved drastically over the past century, but I don't understand when people think that the world is mostly a good place. Trillions of wild animals throughout history have suffered in so many horrible ways, eaten alive, chased to exhaustion, starvation, drought, etc. Nature is cruel and from a human perspective, I don't know how you could see it as anything other than evil.

the fact that there are more sources of pain and sadness than there are sources of pleasure and happiness.

throughout history there have been 100 billion humans alive how many of them could say that they had a good life i'm willing to bet the majority live miserable lives

 

[Shar]

I think its an objective truth that there is more suffering than pleasure in the world for several reasons.

- Good things we need to work for , while bad things come for free.

- We perceive suffering more than pleasure.

- Most people spend more time doing activities they don't enjoy, such as wage slavery.

- Most people suffer from poverty and illness.

- The human brain was not programmed to feel constant contentment. Evolutionarily, discomfort is more effective as it motivates us to leave our comfort zone and seek more.
Have you ever wondered why every time you achieve something, it becomes little and you want more? is just an example of how this programming works. We are never satisfied with anything. There is no absolute satisfaction. Even if you get everything you wanted, eventually your brain would find a way to torture you.
Humans are problem seekers, thanks to that. Thats why utopia is a joke. There will never be such a thing, even if we could fix everything in the world.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I can't disagree with you but then, the puzzle is why creatures continue to reproduce. Especially humans- who have the capability to assess their living sutuation and the likely living situation of their offspring.

Do they really do it entirely for themselves? Because they want to experience that parental bond or because they were horny or eager to comply with familial/societal pressures to have children? Or, because they want to be looked after in old age?

I'm not sure that is entirely it. Children are expensive and they are obviously going to dominate at minimum, 18 years of your life with their needs. Possibly more. I'm not so sure parents are entirely selfish (at least in intention) when they decide to have children. I think at least some people, perhaps the majority actually pass on life because they think it's a gift rather than a curse. They hope their child will turn out liking life, presumably as much or more than they did.

I'm not sure that so many people do hate their lives as much as we do. Even if they complain about them like mad. I think we tend to find that out if/when people realise and are shocked that we are suicidal. Surely- if it was that bad for the majority of people, there would be more acceptance of suicide because more people would want it.

In terms of there being more bad than good, I'm not sure. Good and bad are relative to perspective. You might have a delicious chicken dinner today which was good for you but, bad for the chicken. Things like factory farming likely mean less people go hungry but the animals it 'processes' likey suffer horribly. But yeah, I definitely agree that the systems this world works around seem very morally questionable from a human perspective.

 

[hopeless08]

When I look at the whole world in its entirety, it seems to me like bad things are the norm. Look at things like poverty, inequality, corruption, unfairness, greed, lies, war, hate, violence, injustice, ignorance, selfishness and etc. etc.

If you compare these things to good things like kindness, empathy, justice, love; it seems to me those bad things outweigh the good things.

it's your bias which causes you to focus on the positive over the negative - It's possible your individual life does contain more good than bad, but to extrapolate from this that life in general contains more good than bad is another cognitive distortion

It's obvious that quality of life for most people has improved drastically over the past century, but I don't understand when people think that the world is mostly a good place. Trillions of wild animals throughout history have suffered in so many horrible ways, eaten alive, chased to exhaustion, starvation, drought, etc. Nature is cruel and from a human perspective, I don't know how you could see it as anything other than evil.

the fact that there are more sources of pain and sadness than there are sources of pleasure and happiness.

throughout history there have been 100 billion humans alive how many of them could say that they had a good life i'm willing to bet the majority live miserable lives

I agree, you have a good point

 

[sserafim]

I can't disagree with you but then, the puzzle is why creatures continue to reproduce. Especially humans- who have the capability to assess their living sutuation and the likely living situation of their offspring.

Do they really do it entirely for themselves? Because they want to experience that parental bond or because they were horny or eager to comply with familial/societal pressures to have children? Or, because they want to be looked after in old age?

I'm not sure that is entirely it. Children are expensive and they are obviously going to dominate at minimum, 18 years of your life with their needs. Possibly more. I'm not so sure parents are entirely selfish (at least in intention) when they decide to have children. I think at least some people, perhaps the majority actually pass on life because they think it's a gift rather than a curse. They hope their child will turn out liking life, presumably as much or more than they did.

I'm not sure that so many people do hate their lives as much as we do. Even if they complain about them like mad. I think we tend to find that out if/when people realise and are shocked that we are suicidal. Surely- if it was that bad for the majority of people, there would be more acceptance of suicide because more people would want it.

In terms of there being more bad than good, I'm not sure. Good and bad are relative to perspective. You might have a delicious chicken dinner today which was good for you but, bad for the chicken. Things like factory farming likely mean less people go hungry but the animals it 'processes' likey suffer horribly. But yeah, I definitely agree that the systems this world works around seem very morally questionable from a human perspective.

I think it's down to biology and instinct. Some people have the desire to nurture and care for someone else, and it still is selfish because they create someone to satisfy *their* own desires

 

[SilverTiger]

The people who say things like "Life is wonderful, omg look at this butterfly" are living on another fucking planet, they think the pretty colour of a butterfly's wings, smehow cancels out the years of anguish and pain of people.

Life is a net negative

 

[DeadButDreaming]

Viewing anything that makes you sad as evil shows how transparent morality really is.