Who Gets to be "Human?"

[@HardCodedGaming]

I realized a little while back that our ability to de-humanize each other is what enables us to hurt each other, and I try to avoid doing the first thing at all times. And I got an ego boost when I saw Terry Pratchett thought the same. He might have put it more succinctly: "Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things."

[@PaperySloth]

Therefore, the people who do such things are animals. 😂

[@Alverant]

The two words after that quote are the most important. "Including yourself." I'm reading Hogfather again (as I do every year between Thanksgiving and Hogswatch (err Christmas) and I don't think I ever encountered a fictional character who treated people as things more than Teatime, including the Auditors.

[@bugjams]

​@@PaperySloth Yeah, if we keep treating people who view others as animals as ontologically evil "lost causes," then I feel we won't get anywhere. The hardest thing to do is to give empathy to someone who doesn't give it to you - but in doing so, you might teach them how to give empathy back.

[@principleshipcoleoid8095]

I mean, if someone tries to invade a country people there dehumanising invading force is reasonable. They valued their lives less than milimiters of land gains

[@solk.posner7201]

One of the easiest example is the car. When I get behind wheels, I just see everyone as an obstacle, it hard to avoid that. That’s why I really dislike driving

[@akhayat89]

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

[@mooncalf191]

Busy, busy, busy.

[@afrikasmith1049]

Why do I feel like this was or could be used in a rap song?

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

bird migrate and get protections people migrate and go to jail

[@TAP7a]

​@@afrikasmith1049it reminds me of "Can't Help Lovin That Man of Mine" from the 1940s, but the structure of the Vonnegut is couplets of longer phrases "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, I gotta love one man til I die, Can't help lovin that man of mine"

[@darkhobo]

So it goes

[@LonkinPork]

I gotta say, I know it's probably not as lucrative in the Metrics, but the steady slide into more general "Philosophy Applied To Current Events" topics over the previous "Philosophy Applied To Movies & TV" topics has been really enlightening. Being able to apply the ideas of some of the world's greatest Thinkers to the horrors of the present day makes the bleakness slightly more bearable 💖

[@TheRepty818]

This whole conversation reminds me of Tomi Lahren claiming that BLM was protesting wrong, then when asked how they should protest she admitted she doesn't believe in protesting period. Then years later, when Biden was in office, she was the one protesting.

[@KIT_TV22]

I LOVE that you chose this topic. Yeah man, we're too casual with the words we use. It's not surprising. Words have power. Few know how to wield it with precision and prescence. In the rush to define things, it's not surprising so many of us are calling people animals, like a returning chorus of judgement. Great food for thought!! I'm fed. Bless.

[@KIT_TV22]

Mean Girls is pure genius btw, saw it for the first time this year!! It's far smarter than I ever guessed it would be. Glad you brought it into frame.

[@WisecrackEDU]

Hell yeah - it's legit such a good movie.

[@johnsteel5347]

Guns are not a human right

[@elijahford3696]

​@@johnsteel5347The right to defend oneself, however, is. That said, if the military calls something a "ballistics platform", it probably shouldn't be available to the general public.

[@johnsteel5347]

@@elijahford3696 If the country you're stealing land from decides to fight back you should probably move your colonizers out or they become military targets.

[@luukderuijter1332]

The biggest human flaw is always imparting a hidden meaning behind every construct, which also somehow always places themselves at the top (or at least upholds the status quo)

[@someoneawesome8717]

That's because of our advanced pattern recognition

[@melusine826]

I think that's a feature, not a bug. Well.... a feature that's been effective at keeping humans doing the generational thing, so is it a unit of cultural transmission?🤔 aka a meme?

[@alexxx4434]

It's called 'bias'. Human psychology displays plenty of them.

[@leonaise7546]

@@someoneawesome8717 It has nothing to do with pattern recognition & is just Humanity’s narcissism

[@leonaise7546]

That’s humanity’s narcissism for you

[@thisjustin6529]

“Keep the change you filthy animal” is one of my favorite movie quotes. Someone said that to me when I was working at a gas station and it was so funny.

[@darkhobo]

Every time I get pizza delivered.

[@hichamababou188]

Thank you so much Michael for addressing this exact point. Some sick and narcissist "humans" are still using these wretched ideas to justify acts of genocide, displacement of entire populations, and many horrible deeds that are deemed war crimes otherwise. I guess we get the hints you threw between here and there. Videos like yours are really cool since they spread awareness in a meaningful way. This one in particular gives a sort of easiness in a rather troubled era. It is really a mad mad world as Shaggy puts it.

[@eitancodish301]

Notice how you also use the sarcastic quotes around "human," dehumanizing the people that you're talking about it. Horrors aren't committed by "humans" they're committed by humans, and that makes them so much scarier.

[@alexxx4434]

What makes humans distinct from animals is that humans are good at rationalizing their animalistic behaviours.

[@dinglesworld]

@@alexxx4434”Thank God for rationalizations!”

[@davida.yorkson3397]

I studied Biochemistry in university, and having been raised rather isolated from other people I've always has difficulty relating to other, but one day after a Genetics class I had the following thought: every living thing on this planet shared th same molecules. We're all, basically the same. And that was a rather enjoyable moment of "Hey, the difference between me and that pigeon is, literally, shape!"

[@juliana.x0x0]

We are made up of the same basic building blocks as everything from bananas to stardust, and we will break down to essentially the same thing.

[@KaseyMasterpeace]

R.i.p. to the best dog i ever had Memphis. German shepherd who had a long spoiled 13 years 💜 such a good boy. Never forget all dogs go to heaven.

[@WisecrackEDU]

RIP Memphis!!!

[@TheVincentKyle]

Unfortunately the drinking-game word wasn't "wretched", but "animality" - by the end my stomach screamed "FINISH HIM".

[@brentt6714]

ANIMALITY!

[@MelancholicBodhisattva]

Speaking of the biology angle; humanity is shockingly similar when it comes to our genetics. Like, in spite of the incredible diversity of how we all look and our histories and ancestry, you can take two people from opposite sides of the earth, as genetically distinct as you can get, look nothing alike at all, and the differences at absolute maximum is 0.1% It's actually kind of a scary sign, because generally the more genetically diverse a species the better the odds of their survival...

[@FeiFongWang]

We share 60% of our DNA with bananas, that doesn't mean much.

[@coletrain41]

.....or does it. VSAUCE here!

[@gemain609]

It's also a positive in as far as natural selection didn't have to go through massive break ups in genetic diversity in order for humans to survive in different environments (remember kids , the reason why we have different skin colors is because a whole lot of people effectively dropped dead because the sun wasn't giving them enough vitamins)

[@alexxx4434]

Mice have approximately 97.5% of their working DNA in common with humans. Which makes you think, that 'humanity' we hold so dearly is just a tip of the iceberg. In essence we have much more in common with other living beings than we differ.

[@nobody4248]

Humans have a ridiculously low genetic diversity (at least for an ape). If you took 2 random humans and 2 random chimps from the same popilation, the chimps are basicly guranteed to be more different from one another then the humans are.

[@caseyczarnomski8054]

The more money you have the more "human" you are perceived to be. Money gives people the entitlement to dehumanize.

[@raycar9827]

We are all always and always have been human. Their funny money doesn't mean shit. It's just racist rhetoric disguised as capitalism.

[@globaladdict]

Chimps have been shown to hoard bananas so hoarding money isn't really a human only thing

[@sisyphus_strives5463]

It is the easiest form of discrimination, either it is the case that you're chosen and blessed by fate or you have risen to your position through merit(which separates you from everyone else). Of course, there is no such dichotomy except in the obvious extremes, but most will perceive it this way and accordingly their ego will inflate irrelevant of which interpretation they've chosen.

[@bugjams]

More human? I don't think anyone seriously believes that. I think they simply feel jealousy over the material and powers rich people have because our instincts are hard-wired to make us hoard resources. The latter half of your comment is spot on, though.

[@raycar9827]

@@bugjams not entirely true across the board. I've powerful people hate me for my laid back attitude because they worked so hard for everything they have.

[@Martinarmonica]

During Pinochet's regime in Chile, one of his fellow generals became famous for doing press conferences in which he frequently called communists "humanoids". The same people the government was exterminating, was publicly dehumanized on live tv every tuesday. The general was named José Toribio Merino, and his "segment" was known as "Merino Tuesday".

[@TrepidDestiny]

A similar dehumanizing term I've seen trend a lot, especially in particular internet spaces is calling people "NPC's". They aren't real people, they're programs walking around masquerading as human, as the logic follows. Allegedly the "NPC" only regurgitates information it's been told to, knowingly or not. For those who don't know, NPC is a gaming term for "Non-player character", as in the created characters to make up a game world, like townsfolk in D&D, or the characters you interact with in an RPG video game.

[@purewhiteloverbizarrejelly]

Kudos for scripting a video that’s both evergreen and topical while also being soul crushingly depressing

[@llsilvertail561]

Honestly this is why I’m much more interested in what gets which degree of personhood over being a “human” or “animal”.

[@99sins]

Same thing in this context since it's pointing at the moral consideration associated with the terms being used.

[@williamcooper8024]

The second edition DnD book of human(oids) may have had a chart. I just look at how much they try to separate other humans from themselves, money really seems to dehumanize the afflicted but in a more virulent way with more horrific consequences.

[@ioannisaliazis]

I think all we need is “The Denial of Death”, that book is a complete eye opener and explains a loooot of the stuff covered here. Would also love to see a video on Jiddu Krishnamurti.

[@WisecrackEDU]

That book absolutely rules.

[@jacksonrocks4259]

As evergreen as this topic is, it’s super important to talk about now as events in Africa and the Middle East unfold. Also very happy to hear you reference Fanon. He doesn’t get enough love

[@ГеоргиГеоргиев-с3г]

9:18 Imagine now we call this hypothetical a "war", and practiced it regularly on the "ENEMY".

[@WisecrackEDU]

that would be nuts

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@WisecrackEDUVERY NUTS

[@alexthewrecker4666]

Good thing that never happens right 😅

[@turkoizdog]

I asked my dog once if being a good boy was important to his self identity and he responded by sitting in what we call The Good Boy Chair, so it sounds to me like he IS capable of intellectualizing.

[@nebojsadurmanovic2268]

I see what you did here, Wisecrack, and I like it. #notThatComplicated

[@alexxx4434]

What makes humans distinct from animals is that humans are good at rationalizing their animalistic behaviours.

[@lynxthewise7233]

Literally wrote entire holy books about it that ended up directing the course of progress to its own means.

[@BrutusBellamy]

One critique: Locke did not maintain that property was owned by whomever was most capable of using a resource, but rather by whomever actively applied their labor to it. This entails that imperialism is, by-and-large, anti-Lockean as the imposition of a major power in controlling a given territory does not recognize the right of those existing settlers and labor-mixers' rights to their own property.

[@nimged8952]

Have you ever thought about exploring these concepts from a non-western philosophical perspective? There is so much that can be said on this subject from a perspective of animistic worldviews, that are so different from the standard western world views.

[@lynxthewise7233]

comments like this give me hope. SOOOOO much of KZbin philosophy is just trying to unpack Ignorance / Colonialism and the concepts we've been fed and regurgitating by said ignorance / colonizers. Like trying to reinvent "American" society to neatly fit the idea of greater unity / cooperation, when it wasn't designed for that in the first place.

[@douglasphillips5870]

Humans are animals that make tools. One type of tool is social structure. We need to make social structures that serve all the human animals.

[@ryansutter4291]

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Samuel Johnson

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

"Too weird to live, too rare to die."

[@drugsdelaney2907]

Dehumanization is manufacturing consent.

[@DralhaEureka]

Dandelion here: me and my buds don't really lean toward literature (except audiobooks), but we do have growing debates over things like the pros and cons of sun exposure and the term "organic."

[@WisecrackEDU]

Wow, thank you so much Dandelion, helpful context about the interest of your people.

[@A.Filthy.Casual]

As a flower, I find it offensive that others would automatically assume I couldn't be an intellectual.

[@someoneawesome8717]

I wish I could be a crow, smart enough to appreciate the fun of throwing snow, no pesky anxiety about existentialism

[@MisterCynic18]

Who's to say the crows don't suffer existential dread every day of their brief lives? Smart enough to have a concept of self, yet powerless to affect a world seemingly fixated on their inevitable and often painful demise. They can't even distract themselves from their doom with drugs and tv like the giant hairless monkeys that throw rocks at them.

[@someoneawesome8717]

@@MisterCynic18 that's an excellent counterpoint

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Crows hold "funerals" of a sort. It's closer to a murder investigation, but in doing so it clearly displays the understanding of their mortality, and actively attempting to learn from it and alert the community in an effort to avoid the same fate. While, perhaps, this doesn't fully reach the level of how you define "existentialism" but I feel that these intelligent animals, comprehend existence as both individuals and a community, bordering at least upon the fact of each being a part of a greater whole as a species, and, once again imo, perhaps in a way superior to humans. They all work to help other crows. Humans... not so much. Being able to write poetry and whatever (there has been a crow that can paint, we ain't that special) or make thought experiments, doesn't make us that much better.

[@bugjams]

​@@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield hehe, "murder investigation," don't know if you meant to include a pun there, but it works. :P

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

@@bugjams *Law and Order SVU noise*

[@KBird204]

Awww yeah, another piece to the Terror Management Theory (TMT) discussion I inevitably have with any of my friends who like to discuss philosophy, psychology, anthropology, history, etc Lowkey, it kind of feels like a ‘Roko’s Basilisk’ type of weight to drop on others who may have been happier in their ignorance before hearing about it. I consider TMT a compelling theory- that explains so much of what we do, have done, and will continue to do as humans in the future. I’ve had similar discussions with friends about how lots of ideologies around the globe have a similar underlying framework that are just localized, contextualized understandings (and sometimes justification) of human psychology. This was a very in-depth dissertation that will further add to my discussions in the future. Thanks Wisecrack 👌

[@fionamason4725]

Humanity thinking it was above nature, rather than of it and deeply intertwined with it, how wild. Love the content :)

[@manoelrocha94]

My little princess is called Mila, and she's a Shih-tzu. But I would like to mention something that caught my attention. Michael says that he can't have a dog because the apartment building don't allow it. Here in Brazil, is forbidden to any apartment biulding or condos or wahtever to forbid anyone ti have a dog or any pet. We have a law that allow anyone to have any amount of pets at home as long as it obeys sanitary rules of the city. I guess it's because people that live alone need the company. And they understand that the noises that pets make are inherent to them being alive, not different from, for exemple, a baby crying.

[@MrGksarathy]

We are humans, a type of animal. The distinction between us and other animals is completely arbitrary, as are all distinctions and similarities. There is no truth but emptiness...

[@AndreyEvermore]

Humans ARE animals our special ability is to make things into tools. Even sounds, words, concepts… etc

[@dsgdsg9764]

The problem doesn't come from everybody believing it's okay the problem comes whenever tensions have rise so high that everybody is okay with calling everyone else an animal and that is the real problem

[@CamWeezy16]

I love the picture in my mind of someone patiently watching every video this channel has ever posted with a bottle of vodka in hand, waiting to hear the word "wretched" so they can take a shot and maybe they've gotten to do it a time or 2 but today was their super bowl

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's a beautiful vision.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

​@@WisecrackEDUi had a beer, and grabbed another to do so. I have the vodka, but even for me, thats too rapid a frequency.

[@budget_ballin]

Shoutout to my dog, bear. My best man at my wedding.

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's so beautiful. We love you, Bear.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@WisecrackEDU🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

[@s73squee]

The scriptwriter missed their chance to drop the term "merciless savages" from the USA Declaration of Independence

[@jeddafakee91]

Facts. People really do get treated as a means to an end and lives are not valued equally

[@FacterinoCommenterino]

Today's Fact: The world's largest single structure made by living organisms is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

[@WisecrackEDU]

I hope we don't ruin the reef as it's pretty beautiful.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@WisecrackEDU🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

[@brandonvillamizar1216]

Dude! I really hate to see your posts! I thought it was only on Charlie's channel, but now also here? Gimme a break!

[@Keyndoriel]

​@WisecrackEDU much depressed I'll never see what it looked like in its prime. Only thing to do is to make sure it recovers, for the sake of the sea and ourselves

[@Keyndoriel]

​@@brandonvillamizar1216you're so gross

[@jart83]

"They dont deserve human rights! They're just a clump of cells!"

[@BENNYWORMS]

exactly

[@endormorre6567]

Have people ever committed atrocities without dehumanizing the victim or being dehumanized themselves? It feels like an elegant answer that the only real bad thing people can do is to treat others as lessers, as if they are less real or less human. The over simplifications of reality can lead to a lot of blind spots as no one person can completely define what the real world is. This doesn't stop people from finding their own answers to big complicated issues. That is my conclusion, and it isn't exclusively mine, but I'm sure I'm wrong somehow. If anyone can think of an instant where lessening of another isn't the course of an atrocities I would be very appreciative to be proven wrong.

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@t_ylr]

It's funny cause i use animal as an insult but like when ppl litter or they're rude to their server lol. I'm not attacking ppl's humanity 😅

[@WisecrackEDU]

That's fair, we should shame people who litter and who are rude to servers.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@WisecrackEDU🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@skafiend167]

That was from the Animorohs tv show, wasnt it? The blonde cat lady thing at the beginning. Damn, i love Animorphs

[@K1ng1995]

It's weird to think Jake from that show went from Animorphs to Iceman in the Live-action X-Men movies.

[@pennywaldrip3774]

The comparison of people to animals, and the distinction between them, makes more sense in an era when people might likely be attacked by animals, if they don't live in a populated city. We are all animals, we just think we're more important because we can say things like, "I think."

[@realDonaldTrump420]

Humans are the least natural (most sinful) animals.

[@bugjams]

Important in the universal scale? No. But we certainly are important on our own planet, which is to say, significantly powerful. We have the ability to completely change landscape and ecosystems, for better or worse. We have the capacity for cruelty beyond what other animals are capable of, but also empathy beyond what other animals can do. I don't think it's wrong or even narcissistic to acknowledge that we play the most significant role in deciding the fate of our planet. Because if not us, then nothing else decides at all - it just is.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

To be fair- parrots can also say that

[@lynxthewise7233]

- because we can comprehend the concept of saying "I think".

[@stefanmilicevic5322]

I am partly an animal, partially non-animal. As Hegel puts it: “Man is an animal, but even in his animal functions, he is not confined to the implicit, as the animal is; he becomes conscious of them, recognizes them, and lifts them, as, for instance, the process of digestion, into self-conscious science. In this way man breaks the barrier of his implicit and immediate character, so that precisely because he knows that he is an animal, he ceases to be an animal and attains knowledge of himself as spirit.” ― Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Also, I think I am in favor of a sharp distinction but with the added modification of being empathetic and non-disparaging towards both humans and animals. Both a distinction and a harmonious coexistence can coexist.

[@FelisImpurrator]

Nah, that idea has always been cope. Humans have been inventing excuses to pretend to be special forever, and none of them mean anything.

[@TheSquirrelChaser]

When you said "philosophical glossover," all I could see was that glorious DOME!!!

[@solk.posner7201]

Sad so few countries guarantee the most simple of human rights. I hate when people make fun of the poor and homeless that struggle to fulfill their daily needs, dismissing it to their merits and faults when in fact it shouldn’t be a problem in the first place…

[@Bendylife]

We often see it used as a way for us to distance ourselves from behavior and actions we find unpleasant or abhorrent, as well. I think one of the worst things we took away from the Holocaust was the idea that Nazis werent human. Its dangerous because it should never be forgotten that they were human and all humans are all capable of committing horrible crimes, just as they did. It is hard to see the humanity in people who do horrible things, especially when they also have dehumanized us in the past, but its so important to remeber they are human and treat them as such or else we learn nothing and risk doing the exact same.

[@elijahford3696]

Agreed. That said, there's lines a human being shouldn't cross. Some things are such an affront to the concept of decency that they should be abhorred. That doesn't mean these things aren't human. Cruelty is very human. We're very good at it, historically speaking.

[@Bendylife]

@@elijahford3696 That's my point. Regardless of how cruel actions might be, those who commit them never stop being human and we need to always remember that. Things don't happen in a vacuum and we must understand why and how things get to those points if we wish to stop them in the future.

[@lizardhumanhybrid]

Thanks for dipping your toes into animal related philosophy Wisecrack Team! As a vegan, animal rights advocate who does environmental work i super appreciate even tiny steps into this vast, often ignored area of philosophy. This video dealt a lot with how mans reconciling of our human-animal identity crisis inpacts human systems...but i would love to see a video where you cover the deeper question: what rights, obligations, and moral considerations do we owe to animals, if any, and why? Basically, Wisecrack, please make a video covering animal rights. The history of the idea, perspectives, and or argumentation.

[@WisecrackEDU]

Great idea and we should definitely get into this in 2024. When we make that video be sure to jump in to remind us that it was your video and we owe you gratitude and a coffee!

[@JohnnyVee007]

A (vegan) coffee you LA Based peeps can get from It's All Good Coffee?? ;p

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@Yedda-b3z]

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

[@SpoopySquid]

As a great philospher once said: You and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals

[@MD0Hatter]

I've been waiting for this one since you first mentioned it, very excited!

[@srf2767]

Yet another solid wisecrack vid 👍 *Veganism peeks its head out*

[@GWT1m0]

Animals eat animals, checkmate Veganists

[@MatthewNash]

I've not put much stock into John Locke's theory of property previously, but you do make a convincing argument that TVs should belong to those who know how to turn motion smoothing off.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

I can't tell you how much I love this thought

[@Bacagon]

FREE PALISTINE!

[@eaglesclaws8]

The dif is behavioral. When a wolf is trapped it will naugh off its leg to escape. Now there is an animal kind of trick. A human, knowing that the hunter is a threat not only to him but his kin, will escape and lie in wait for the hunter to return so that they can remove a threat to the group. Thats a human sort of trick.

[@SageWon-1aussie]

Wow, you watched Dune. Well done.

[@danaugust993]

How groups are portrayed and talked about is something I find myself thinking about a lot because it seems to affect political discourse a lot. I'd love to see more videos on these kinds of topics. I started reading about the "5 filters of mass media" recently.

[@kodaxmax]

It is difficult. Because when you are a politicians or ruler ir even ceo you litterally can't consider the thousands or millions of people your responsible for individually when making decisions. But that also inherently dehumanizes them and encourages these leaders not consider them as human at all. So the best middle ground is to give them all a say and act based on that data (a democracy for example). This is why smaller communities can successfully implement communist and socialist policies. Because it's viable for them to consider the few individuals they are effecting. I don't know if theres a better solution. given the national and international scale of todays society a heirachy with few leading millions or billions seems unavoidable, even if you broke them into small communities with local leaders there still needs to be a minorioty leadshership to allow all these hypotheticall small cominities to oc-exist peacefully.

[@lucyandecember2843]

@@kodaxmax o.o

[@dfj232]

Animals with pants that play "society"

[@KareemDaKing]

Exactly what I was Expecting from the title and soo... Much More. Needed.

[@darius5066]

I always appreciate an Animorphs reference.

[@DragonDrummer2]

One of my favorite videos the wisecrack team has put together!

[@domiwomi628]

Thank you so much for this video! Took me right back to the best parts of grad school, like I love the ways you connected the social implications of our definitions of humanity, especially in the present moment.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

Something I've been looking into lately is my insane belief that everything has a level of consciousness and it's not just restricted to humans or animals. I genuinely can not be cruel to a rock, for example. One of the most popular contemporary composers of our time has the same issue and his story puts it perfectly: he was at Starbucks trying to buy a banana to go along with his drink. His dilemma was that if he chose a banana, would the others feel left out? Would the one he picked feel sad it was leaving it's friends? Would it know that it was going to be eaten and be scared? Would it be happy it was going to fulfill it's purpose? This (possibly psychotic) belief is Panpsychism- as much as I would love to say I'm a humanist, I'm really an everything-ist. I don't think I'm more important than a tree, or cow, and I'm thankful for their existence and loss when I need to eat or live in a building. I try to honor everything as though it was a human that made a sacrifice and treat it to the best of my ability. I'd love to hear Michael's take on this belief/compulsion.

[@lucyandecember2843]

panpsychism is a very difficult word to say lol

[@JaceDeanLove]

I think there's zero evidence for this, but it results in you being a good person so it doesn't matter if it's "psychotic"

[@Ford_prefect_42]

@@JaceDeanLove there's actually a ton of studies on it currently, because consciousness is pretty highly debated and the current theory just got a ton of scrutiny. You can look up those studies and see their research. I was surprised this was even being studied

[@JaceDeanLove]

@@Ford_prefect_42 oh I know they're studying it. I just haven't been convinced yet. I don't discount it either

[@Ford_prefect_42]

@@JaceDeanLove that's fair. If I wasn't this way since birth I'd think I'm crazy too 🤣

[@Dr_1212]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

[@TommyHanusa]

I think humans are animals. And as animals can be noble when responsibly cared for; when they are treated 'like animals' we shouldn't be surprised when they bite and lash out. Or inversely, if humans are lashing out against power structures then those power structures are not responsibly caring for them.

[@miguelrecto5268]

Connect the dots is a lot more fun when you’re actually the one putting the dots together and not the other way around.

[@gunnstash]

My guys ability to drive engagement every 30 seconds is unmatched. Here I am complying

[@andothersuchnonsense2685]

My dog, Ari, is what we call an "Arizona Special," half Chihuahua and half Pit Bull. He looks mostly just like a Chihuahua but with smaller eyes and about 4x the size. He's a good boy.

[@FeiFongWang]

I'm sorry, but that sounds like one of the most aggressive creatures conceived by man, and I'm a pitbull owner too 😅

[@deathlytree434]

We're all animals embrace that we are part of the ecosystem not above or separated from it

[@SageWon-1aussie]

I think you missed religious class.

[@ahorrell]

Animals are people too. People are animals too.

[@mrsloan7361]

That mean girls video was fascinating, I still remember it. But I’m gonna go watch it again, as an act of sacrifice to the algorithm.

[@WisecrackEDU]

The algorithm thanks you.

[@happinesstan]

We all get the opportunity, but nobody gets a choice.

[@PaladioBlaze]

I watched your Mean Girls video and I've never even seen Mean Girls!

[@WisecrackEDU]

appreciate you!

[@jameslee1145]

Cetaceans, corvids, elephants, parrots and the other great apes have entered the chat

[@Gustave-e5v]

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.

[@Bunclemark]

"If your a guy named Mike from Jersey, shout out in the comments which part of your meat would be the tastiest." "Ayyy, get outta heeeeeeeya"

[@aeonophon]

If the distinction between human and animal is that humans wear pants, call me animal.

[@FoxMacLeod2501]

Reminds me of a fantastic Primus album: _Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People_ - also, IMO, one of the best album titles ever, too.

[@ComradeDt]

Burns forgot to do a Dome promo in the Wisecrack Live promo

[@beccangavin]

I believe the last recorded thought of a flower was “Oh no, not again.” But nobody knows what he meant by that.

[@happinesstan]

The question as to "acting like an animal" is misguided. We ACT as human.

[@PaperySloth]

Which is, a lot of the time, completely horrendous

[@carsonpaullee]

Inside of me are two wolves one says “the moon isn’t real” the other says “that’s a metaphor for widely believed disinformation and misinformation”

[@tysonasaurus6392]

I was hoping you would mention Fanon when I saw the title of the video, great work as always guys, thank you for what you do P.S. I've seen your Mean Girls video Michael, it's very good and I hope people go watch it because it pairs well with this video

[@dukeman6008]

I often talk heavy philosophical matters with my basil plant

[@kated3165]

I think we are very much still animals, and its part of the problem. We have created a world that is no longer adapted to (and too complex for) the level our instincts still operate on. We are still, at our core, the apes obsessed with securing land... but now the most powerful of us can literally own massive chunks of the world. We still have minds wired to care for a small community, ours, and view ''the others'' as threats (or at the very least not worthy of worrying over)... except we are building a world where we would all benefit greatly from learning to cooperate and function as one global species. We still use survival strategies that are harmful to others of our species (stealing/deception/killing/bullying/conning), when we have created a world that depends so much on everyone's cooperation. We still run on the instincts of an ape in the forest who ''can never secure enough resources'', only we have replaced fruit and leaves with money and the power imbalances we are creating are allowing a few (big oil giants, pharma giants, etc'' to rule over the masses while destroying the planet we all live on at their leisure.

[@lynxthewise7233]

what is the cutoff to not be considered animal?

[@kated3165]

@@lynxthewise7233 When we are capable of getting our sh!t together and run societies globally that are structured around long-term goals, logic, efficiency, social equity, sustainability and respect of the entire living world. That is when we know we are no longer running on base instincts that are in no way compatible with the world we have created or wish to create. Unfortunately that possibility is shrinking fast before our eyes and it's likely we will go extinct after behaving like absolute parasites on this planet...

[@crocoshark4097]

You know, now that you mention it, I would say a tree's lack of self-hatred and belief in its own "wretchedness" is a strength on the trees part. But then again, trees are awesome. They're just quietly being some of the greatest living things on the planet. It's mosquitos that need to realize they suck.

[@callahanh14]

Yo man, that was one of my favorite videos when it came out! I was in my old English literature classroom before the professor showed watching it

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

"Which part of your meat is the tastiest?" Phrasing.

[@tribalbear84]

I often think about how they in the Dune series talk about being human as being capable of conscious thought and physical self discipline, where animals act on instinct and impulse. The test of the Box in the first book where Paul Atreides is tasked to put his hand in a box and not remove it even if it feels like it's being slowly burned to an ashen lump (it's not, though, it is simply "pain by nerve induction"), and his level of self control is how he is judged to be either human or an animal. He passes the test and is deemed "human". I think that argument is quite fascinating.

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@lynxthewise7233]

Checks out. Being human, from what I've learned, seems to be defined by how much you are willing to give your autonomy for comfort. Society is literally just one big cage for us.

[@justinbyrge8997]

It's quite simple dear Watson: You see, the term "people" or "person" in most contexts spoken of is synonymous with the term "God" or "God-like", as in "above" someone else or something else. I've met many humans who don't think other animals even have self awareness or a conscious or even any sense of consciousness - as if they are meat robots. Even the scientific community gets into debates as to whether other living organisms are conscious and to what degree. It's a way of protecting oneself from the negative psychological effects that come with causing harm or destruction - by disassociation and justification. If others are "animals" then by implication you are not. And therefore the other is "less than" or "unworthy" of whatever it is you happen to be worthy of or above. After all, you are good. And so rather than face the truth of any perceived entitlement or harm you cause to anything else, you end up maintaining your goodness and reinforce your belief that you are in the "righteous" team through demonization. It's an effective way that cult leaders, politicians, and military officials convince their troops to kill or destroy for the sake of whatever ideology or empire is being forced into being. It's also an effective way for wealthy business owners and corporations to be able to deal with the so called "tough" decisions that effect many lives for the sake of profits. Basically, it's one thing that happens in order to win the internal conflict that arises when one tries to hold onto two or more beliefs that contradict or conflict with each other. It's a form of cognitive dissonance, that's it that's all.

[@alexxx4434]

Humans are sophisticated animals.

[@kingmarx810]

The intellectual capacity of vegetation had me thinking, what is the smartest plant?

[@CottonCandySharks]

I watched the mean girls episode when it came out (: thanks for writing it!

[@WisecrackEDU]

appreciate you.

[@Adolph-i2j]

To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.

[@highonlife341]

Wisecrack: plants don't have souls Dryads in the comments: rude

[@shredder_tube]

According to our wages, we’re all dogs.

[@MrJ1S]

Lol the intro made the song...more human than a human...play in my head