Humans by nature are notoriously selfish beings as self preservation is literally programmed into our instinctual mind. We don't look at the future in the thousands of years because we don't live thousands of years, so the only actions we care about are the ones that effect us and those we know here and in the immediate future. I personally cherish the life I have on this planet and take considerable effort in preventive measures to assure I don't die an untimely death. As for sacrificing myself for some greater good, well, this isn't something I have given much thought... So lets see...
I can with great certainty say that family and friends are the most important thing in my life, so if an event happened where I had to make a split second decision to risk injury or death to save the ones I love I would jump at the chance (of course to a degree, because again, I'm no hero and my self preservation instincts are my worst enemy at that point).
Having said that, my instinct for self preservation is strong, and thus any type of premeditated action would be virtually impossible just because the instinct that keeps me from jumping off a cliff will keep me from doing anything suicidal. I'm being brutally honest here, I'm not a coward, I just cherish that I'm alive, that I think, that I see and feel and experience anything, because anything beats nothing.
I agree that it's easy to get caught up in how we would like to see ourselves while ignoring how we would truly react if such an opportunity presented itself.
Humans by nature are notoriously selfish beings as self preservation is literally programmed into our instinctual mind. We don't look at the future in the thousands of years because we don't live thousands of years, so the only actions we care about are the ones that effect us and those we know here and in the immediate future. I personally cherish the life I have on this planet and take considerable effort in preventive measures to assure I don't die an untimely death. As for sacrificing myself for some greater good, well, this isn't something I have given much thought... So lets see...
I can with great certainty say that family and friends are the most important thing in my life, so if an event happened where I had to make a split second decision to risk injury or death to save the ones I love I would jump at the chance (of course to a degree, because again, I'm no hero and my self preservation instincts are my worst enemy at that point).
Having said that, my instinct for self preservation is strong, and thus any type of premeditated action would be virtually impossible just because the instinct that keeps me from jumping off a cliff will keep me from doing anything suicidal. I'm being brutally honest here, I'm not a coward, I just cherish that I'm alive, that I think, that I see and feel and experience anything, because anything beats nothing.
I agree that it's easy to get caught up in how we would like to see ourselves while ignoring how we would truly react if such an opportunity presented itself.
Well that was deep.