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Why are we as humans obsessed with mass-extinction of our species? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I was having a conversation with my friend about this. We were discussing AI and she believes AI will destroy all of humanity just like so many others. I personally don't believe that. I'm aware of all the theories and the multitude of ways that it could happen and I understand that with AI, in theory we wouldn't understand its goals so we wouldn't know how it would destroy us but again, that's just a theory.

There's also the constant fear of massive nuclear holocaust with WWIII but I also don't believe that we'd realistically get to a point where we'd use Nukes on each other knowing the implications of what would happen. But it made me realize that we're constantly fearful of mass extinction. To the point where some people fight tooth and nail and will not try to look at things from a more positive or optimistic perspective. It's all death or you're wrong.

Please help me understand this. I'm here with open ears.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I agree that the spotlight effect (or main character syndrome in slang) plays in. We tend to expect our life to be extra special somehow.

It's also just fun to imagine exhilarating things. We're still dumb animals who have fun riding endorphins, whether it's skydiving or horror movies. Makes sense that myths about paranormal entities, natural disasters, end times, etc. are recurring in so many cultures. Same reason the Walking Dead is popular. It's exciting to imagine!

The most alive I've ever felt has been being shot at, running from cops/security, and throwing myself into a dog fight to save my dog who was attacked. Even when being driven to the ER, I was riding such a high. I got messed up, but I won, and damn did that feel good and powerful. He was a big dog. In a sorta twisted way, I kinda eagerly await life's unexpected events because of the adrenaline high and sustained retrospective excitement for a while.

What's more exciting than imaging the end of the word as our species knows it? That's the biggest factor in the answer to the question imo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well that's weird. When I was younger I almost died so many times I lost count, and it wasn't exhilarating. Just a broad sense of, "man, what a fucked up situation".