Neanderthal pictures often show big, dumb and ugly creatures. Our human arrogance presumes that our predecessors were ignorant (eg, hunter-gatherers). We underestimate historical complexity because we presume historical simplicity. Hence, we still cannot explain the Egyptian pyramids and its key questions: how, what, when, where, who, and/or why.
Each new generation presumes that previous generations were less knowledgeable. We underrate our predecessors and thus overrate ourselves (eg, importance, relevance). Why?
Both underrating and overrating people are examples of philosophical beliefs. Human beliefs separate us from any other species in nature. Nature shows three main (collective) stages of development: Needs, Wants and Beliefs (my blogs). All species are in the Needs stage while only some species have migrated to Wants. The key criterion for this is the use of tools.
Only humans have beliefs. Some animals do show signs of proto-religious behaviour, which cannot (yet) be qualified as beliefs. Possibly, there is a fourth – though individual – stage of development: Awakening. I use the word possibly because this development is not collective.
To paraphrase a biblical verse: For the love of human beliefs is the root of all evil (Wiki). Human beliefs can be grouped into 7 Belief systems (2016 version, 2019 version). Money is one of the three human beliefs in its Power domain. The Love, Knowledge & Power domains of the 7 Belief systems also constitute a concept called trialism (my blogs).
Beliefs are both a blessing and a curse for mankind. Our belief that nothing is impossible has been responsible for the Technological Revolution of 1800-2100 (my 2015 blog, my blogs). However, life, nature and society always aim for symmetry and balance (my blogs). While human excellence is our blessing, human stupidity is our curse.
However, the general trend in this balance is far from neutral. An intriguing thought is that the density of human excellence outweighs the density of human stupidity.
The composition of the universe shows an interesting analogy of what really matters (pun intended): 4.9% of ordinary matter (eg, atoms, stars, galaxies, and life) while 95.1% of the universe consists of (mysterious and unknown) dark matter (26.8%) and dark energy (68.3%).
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” A quote by Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), an American entrepreneur and publisher of Forbes magazine.
Overrated (2010) by Jacqueline Govaert
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
What’s wrong with being overrated?
Tell me I’m your favourite one
Even if it’s not from the heart
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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