ZFGC
General => Other Discussion => Boards => Archive => Debates => Topic started by: Walnut on November 21, 2008, 10:35:17 pm
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Is a chemical disease of the brain, and is becoming more prevalent because of the way society is run now. Some may argue humans are rising above evolution, I say we're dragging ourselves down lower by trying to beat it.
Debate on the subject here instead of cluttering up that other topic. Go Go Og!
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Some may argue humans are rising above evolution, I say we're dragging ourselves down lower by trying to beat it.
How so though? I mean surely the ones who kill themselves because of it, are the "weaker" of this species, and those that beat it the stronger. (Natural Selection).
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There are a multitude of factors that add to this, but it is slightly insufficient to say that it is fully becoming more of a problem now. Certainly it is more, but there is a little hype over it - it is understood more in modern times, the study of psychology is more open, in older times it was a little taboo, etc. Beyond that, the chemical compounds in food, the parental upbringing of children being either badly done or resulting in premature grown-ups, the television being both a negative source of enjoyment and a controlling societal factor, etc. are also all factors.
I like to think that the suffering is worth it. Perhaps I think this way to somehow give value to that which I hate, but it at least gives me some wisdom. In general though, to others in the world and partially myself as well, people are not able to handle being sad and act often like it's exclusive to them. It's like a bomb of the tragedy of commons; saying I am sadder than everyone else, with many individuals saying it, leaves the world sad and the people saying the aforementioned phrase ignorant.
As for its remedy, all that I think is required is a hug.
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Some may argue humans are rising above evolution, I say we're dragging ourselves down lower by trying to beat it.
How so though? I mean surely the ones who kill themselves because of it, are the "weaker" of this species, and those that beat it the stronger. (Natural Selection).
Well, I'm referring to the argument that humans are above evolution in the sense that instead of adapting to our surrounds, we are instead having our surroundings adapt to us.
I feel that in the process of doing so we're counteracting natural processes that we need to survive, thus making evolution beat us over the head even harder than before. I find it funny how they're finding sleep deprivation is one of the main risk factors for obesity and diabetes, which as we all know is a growing epidemic. I can't shake the feeling that depression is the same way.
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Societal shifts aren't evolution - depression hasn't affected enough generations for it to be a concern. If depressed people don't have children, essentially the world should get more perfect. Otherwise, just chalk it up a portion of humanity always being depressed - it's just a common trend that arises. Humanity is always going to be a communal species, technology just makes it seem less obvious.
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Depression isn't genetic. I'm completely positive it isn't a new condition. Stuff like epilepsy and autism has been around forever, depression has been too, just not categorized.
I never said that society IS evolution, merely that society wants to BEAT evolution, but the stark reality is that we can't stop it.
And you lost me on the technology bit, elaborate some.
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Meh, I guess I misinterpreted something you said - I was thinking that you stated something along the lines of depression becoming more pronounced as if it were a genetic factor. I see now that I was mistaken over what you said. One has to be careless though in lumping it in with things such as autism and epilepsy though as often people who see ills will ascribe them some sense of common, general origin.
Your thought on humanity beating evolution is off, I would say more so that humanity is trying to beat nature. To beat evolution, you have to consciously get around it. Humanity might try to be beating natural selection through uglies pairing up, keeping people alive, etc. but that is not evolution; natural selection drives evolution. Evolution is so much more than a generation for people to be able to conceptualize changing it.
People as a communal species are compelled to interact with other people. Catatonics and those in their own mental world excluded, everyone needs someone. As for technology, I am talking to you right now through the Internet and to me this probably gives me a feeling of some social accomplishment, but it is not really real. As a human I am driven to do things such as communicate, but Internet communication on the species makes communication lose that sense of return. It's hard to say really.
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Some may argue humans are rising above evolution, I say we're dragging ourselves down lower by trying to beat it.
How so though? I mean surely the ones who kill themselves because of it, are the "weaker" of this species, and those that beat it the stronger. (Natural Selection).
I think a lot of intelligent people end up killing themselves because they can't deal with society. So that's backwards; like the weak killing the strong, indirectly.
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Personally I'd say depression is more "common" nowadays because it's become more acceptable, there have been tv shows about it and it's become a bit like gossip, oooh who has depression??? blah blah
And the sudden firing at teenage depression and "emos" which was mentioned in the other topic - yeah, some kids do it for attention or to "fit in" with stereotypes, but that's a problem in itself. Others, however, I think just struggle with growing up. Growing up has always been a hard thing to do, so that's nothing new, but in todays society there are people you can talk to and places you can go to get help, and if you told someone then they'd support you.
Personally I think it's wrong to judge, (as in, what was said about 13 yr olds and "emos" in the other topic) because nobody else knows what's going on inside someone else's head or life.
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I think part of the teenage experience is a period of 'depression' during puberty. You're body is changing, your perceptions of the world are changing and it's quite frankly not a pleasant experience. Most teenagers experience it but 'get over it', and develop during it some kind of coping mechanism. I had a period of depressed paranoia and my coping was to do sit-ups until I couldn't move...which is healthier than other methods :P
Others smoke, others reeeaaaalllly throw themselves into sports...you get the idea :P
You can't really view that as the same as proper clinical depression.
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I think part of the teenage experience is a period of 'depression' during puberty. You're body is changing, your perceptions of the world are changing and it's quite frankly not a pleasant experience. Most teenagers experience it but 'get over it', and develop during it some kind of coping mechanism. I had a period of depressed paranoia and my coping was to do sit-ups until I couldn't move...which is healthier than other methods :P
Others smoke, others reeeaaaalllly throw themselves into sports...you get the idea :P
Agreed. But also I just think that some people are just simply tougher than others. Some people can shrug hard stuff off, but for others it can linger and hurt and bother.
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I love how it's trendy to be "depressed" now.
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Depression isn't genetic. I'm completely positive it isn't a new condition. Stuff like epilepsy and autism has been around forever, depression has been too, just not categorized.
I never said that society IS evolution, merely that society wants to BEAT evolution, but the stark reality is that we can't stop it.
And you lost me on the technology bit, elaborate some.
Well, I think there is really more than one type of 'depression'.
There is being sad, depressed, something we all go through for a short period (sometimes longer periods) of our life.
Then there is a mental illness, mental illnesses (logically) can be genetic.
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Depression isn't genetic. I'm completely positive it isn't a new condition. Stuff like epilepsy and autism has been around forever, depression has been too, just not categorized.
I never said that society IS evolution, merely that society wants to BEAT evolution, but the stark reality is that we can't stop it.
And you lost me on the technology bit, elaborate some.
Well, I think there is really more than one type of 'depression'.
There is being sad, depressed, something we all go through for a short period (sometimes longer periods) of our life.
Then there is a mental illness, mental illnesses (logically) can be genetic.
Thats how I've always seen it. But as far as I can tell everyone at somepoint in there life goes through some form of depression.
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Depression isn't genetic. I'm completely positive it isn't a new condition. Stuff like epilepsy and autism has been around forever, depression has been too, just not categorized.
I never said that society IS evolution, merely that society wants to BEAT evolution, but the stark reality is that we can't stop it.
And you lost me on the technology bit, elaborate some.
Well, I think there is really more than one type of 'depression'.
There is being sad, depressed, something we all go through for a short period (sometimes longer periods) of our life.
Then there is a mental illness, mental illnesses (logically) can be genetic.
Mmmmh... my father had depressions a few years ago, and he went to the hospital for a few months.
He wrote me a looong letter, in which he also explained to me that, yes, it's genetic, but I shouldn't be afraid of "getting it myself", because it just means "I'm just more likely to get depressions than others might be". Or not, even. Uhm, whut. Well, that's how it is with genetic illnesses anyway, right?
I didn't even care that much about it back then. Or about -his- depression.
Of course there are different kinds of it, and of course there are "fake" ones for those who just seek attention, but you never know which kind it is, so I'd be careful.
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I'll never touch an anti depressant. People are depressed because some !@#$% up !@#$% is going on around them, not because of some sissy chemical imbalance. Of course the chemical imbalance is there, but that's not the problem. You can't cure a disease by treating symptoms.
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I'll never touch an anti depressant. People are depressed because some !@#$% up !@#$% is going on around them, not because of some sissy chemical imbalance. Of course the chemical imbalance is there, but that's not the problem. You can't cure a disease by treating symptoms.
Err, what? I think I know what you're getting at, but at the same time it makes no sense. But yeah, I got pretty depressed a couple years back- never touched an anti-depressant, but once I started sorting my life out, I've only been getting better and better.