What do you not understand about humanity?

gestures broadly

Why so many people make decisions based on emotion only, willfully disregarding scientific reasoning.
- Super emotional behavior in general.
  A lot of people are seemingly completely unable or unwilling to take a step back from their own position and look at a situation at least slightly more rationally. Everything is only seen and interpreted as how it affects them.
  The cashier is not super friendly? Must be, that he's an asshole, can't be that he just had a bad day.
  There's a minor inconvenience to me because of some public good? Well, fuck the public, I want mine.
  An argument with a friend, and I'm already angry? Better get even more angry and start screaming, that'll show him!
- We evolved in a climate where that reasoning worked well for our species’ expansion. The amount of time we’ve had written language is only a blink of an eye compared to our species history, so of course we are maladapted to the modern world.
  People who don’t use emotional thinking are the exception rather than the rule.
- I make lot of decisions on emotions too. The joy of helping people. The pain of seeing others suffer. Admiration of what people create. Fear for someones safety. Anger of hearing about unfairness.
  What I don't get is why so many of these "emotional" people dont seem to have any emotions like that. How is it to live like that? Only living with emotions like fear for oneself and oneself only? This isn't a fight between logic on one side and emotion on the other. Not science versus beliefs either. It is empathy versus greed. The only emotion these assholes has is a fear of losing whats "theirs", I'm pretty sure. And if scientific reasoning says its smart to share, of course they disregard it.
- Reality is a team sport, to some people. They only accept or reject claims based on interpersonal trust. They don't think there's anything else. Science is just trusting smart guys. Being real smart grants them the power to decide what's true, this week.

The obsession with what other people do with their lives. I like to be left alone, mind my own business, not bother others. But there seems to be some part of the population that is the opposite and just can't help but poke and pry at others.
- Its because there are some that believe that their freedom does not encroach on the freedoms of other, and need a polite reminder that their actions have consequences, and that we're all part of a larger whole, no matter how much we pretend otherwise.

There are people that destroy things with no benefit to themselves or do things that hurt themselves just because it hurt who they consider to be "the right people."
- It’s just tribalism
  The primary goal is to show off how much of a team member they are, by picking on some “other”. It strengthens their ties to their group, by having an enemy to unite against.

Why people hurt others / rip others off. I don't understand that lack of empathy.
- Hurt people, hurt people.

whys it gotta be like that
- Monkeys with guns
  
  Is that fair to monkeys?

Our inability to learn from other people's mistakes is staggering and bizarre.
Or more poetically, I think the thing I understand least about humanity, is why it understands itself so poorly.

There's parts you understand?

WHAT IS SO FUCKING HARD ABOUT THE ZIPPER MERGE?!?
Do you motherfuckers REALLY think you're a defender of traffic justice when you're attempting to run people off the road for using a designated lane?

That so many people feel the need to force other well-functioning people under their own religious or non-religious moral code.

The way we destroy everything in the long term for short term gains. If our goal is to not die out, we are doing it wrong. Its like we're speed running extinction.

The broad commitment to obsolete ideas.

How is it that some people are completely unable to look beyond their own perspective

Why do so many folks carry so much hatred inside... it's so self-destructive and detrimental to society.
- Prison sex. Not literally that's just a song by Tool, but basically someone hurt me so I'm gonna hurt you.
  They aren't bright enough to figure out that just continues the cycle.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  Prison sex
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
- Harm done to them by other people, and justifiably and rationally looking for answers to how/why/what/where/when/who, so they can make the harm less likely to be repeated in the future by altering their behavior appropriately.
  With special emphasis on the "who", because it's easier, when they should be focusing on the "how" and "why". The "why" part is the most important, but also hardest to tackle.
  
  Right on the money. Psychologically, the best defense is a good offense. Socially, it's not the best choice for building communities.

The cruelty.

Everyone seems to need instant gratification in every aspect of life. No one seems capable of thinking for more than 25 seconds into the future. The pervasive culture of "Fuck you, got mine", and the rat race to the almighty dollar. I don't get it, it's sad, and it's the driving force behind not wanting children. The world sucks, and I want to reduce suffering.

Why "human nature" takes a higher priority than "common sense".
Human history is rife with people fueling vicious cycles, most notably surrounding conflicts between certain groups of people like we see today. These cycles are excused under the crutch of "human nature" but wouldn't exist if those people stepped back and thought "wait a minute".
When I was little, me and my siblings were taught that our outcomes are our responsibility and that our physical/neurological/psychological shortcomings are no excuse for a member of society, so when I see someone talk about someone having done something wrong and say "it's only human nature", I just want to say "dude, I'm a woman with several medical conditions and yet you're worse than I am if you use the plain fact that someone is human to justify their behavior".
- It's not human nature, it's what happens when we act like animals, and that's what society teaches us to do. Compete, become "someone", bla bla.
- Judge weak people by their natures. Wiser ones, by their goals.
  Good life advice from Francis Bacon :)

Well...there are a lot of things I don't understand, but maybe I'm just weird in that way :)) I don't understand why some people accept that what they know at this moment is enough and don't try to learn new stuff and be better tomorrow than they are now. I don't understand why some people choose to ignore creativity and event think that creative people are childish or even stupid. And also, I don't understand why lots of people choose to be jackasses and act accordingly to others when it would be so easy do not do this.

I was thinking last night how weird it is that we can suspend disbelief while watching a movie. Like, we see Tom Cruise on screen and know he's the most famous person in the world and we saw him alive on TV today, yet we get worried that he's gonna die in a ten year old movie?
- Tom who?
  
  The guy from that Castaway movie.

People that sit in air conditioned offices and do 3 hours of work all day get paid more than people who work on the factory floor for 12 hours with minimal breaks. Makes no sense.
- Something something "you're paid more for what ya know/your expertise on something vs just being an easily replacable cog in a machine".
  Not saying I agree with it all that much, but I think that's the general idea, anyways.
- It takes more work to get the 3hour job, so the job itself is easier. It takes less work to get the 12hour job, so the job is harder.
  Less people can get to the "easier" job, so those people are seen as more valuable.
  
  I'm talking about a typical unskilled office job. The kind that will easily be replaced by ai in the next decade.
- It really doesn’t. Sure, some designer in an ivory tower may have designed the product, but they sure as hell aren’t the person that builds hundreds of them.

Greed
- With limited resources, this makes sense. If half the population gave away all their money, they other half would have all the food/housing/etc. We work for potential resources to survive, and on that premise having more potential resources saved for our own future (when the future is so variable) makes sense. That doesn't mean people don't donate/give things they aren't using/don't use anymore, but greed is apart of capitalism and barter economies.

One of the many myriad things I don't understand is why humans don't think of themselves as organisms. Like they know they can train dogs to do things with positive reinforcement but don't think other people do that to them. Or if someone did it's some kind of insult.
- At least in the West,. Christianity played a part in that.
  Things like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy have been changing that though
- There's a weird disconnect between humans and nature in general.
  It's against the law to let animals suffer to death in cases of injury, sickness, etc. Euthanasia is almost mandated. But the same thing for humans is a horrible crime, even if the person explicitly asked for it. That's insane.

Why do people insert fragile glass objects into holes?
- Oh so you think you're too cool for that? You've never looked at a jar and thought "I wonder what that would feel like in my ass?"

The urge to conquer-war

fear of the unknown.
the superman-paranoia effect. something like if there's a being out there that has super abilities and uses it to help others, governments would still reign this person in just-in-case he goes rogue.

"The current American imagination seems utterly unable to understand acts of kindness require greater heroism than acts of violence." -Sarah Manvel

everything

humans like putting body parts inside each other
- The ones that didn't have fewer descendants.
  
  ?
- Simple: For most people (not everyone) even the thought of it releases stupid happy drugs in brain. It suppresses the feeling of disgust very effectively. Free will my ass, we are chained to those brain chemicals.
  Weirdly enough a lot of humans are very opinionated on who are allowed to think about who, even if the brain chemicals doesn't give a shit. Its all a big mess really and earth would probably be better off if humans didn't produce these chemicals.

Yes.

- that they exist or that people think they look good

Why do people tap their breaks in the left lane when passing someone slower on the right?
Please stop. Tap your breaks if you're signaling something going on in front, or if you need to slow down faster than just taking your foot off the gas will slow you.
- Why are you braking?! I find myself asking that out loud at the driver in front of me too many times. Sometimes I see drivers in other lanes doing it too. It's as if they were driving a runaway vehicle that accelerates on its own.

Ingratitude

I don't understand why we gotta argue all the time like is it really a big deal if you put the milk cereal??