Is "Greed" Humanity's Problem?

[Hraklea]

In my opinion, the problem is not the greed, it is the ignorance. Most people don't know anything about economy and politics (and you might say phylosophy too, if you're a religion hater), but living in society demands this knowledge from everyone.

Also, if you're selfish, you want what is best for you. For most people, living in a healthy society is better than living in a crappy one, but they fail to understand how to make our society better. So again, ignorance, not selfishness, is the problem.

[Mayhem]

To go a step deeper than greed - We are innately selfish. Greed is just one of many outlets for our selfishness.

no, not greed, no, we are not even selfish, why do people come up with this?

here have a read:
http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/0...or-altruistic/

Greed is not the problem, lack of empathy is.

a very good point, but still greed is a problem, lack of empathy too

Greed has another name. Self-interest. It only becomes "greed" when your own self-interest hurts others at the expense of your own unnecessary gain. For instance, if you've just crawled out of the desert, you don't want a bottle of water because you're greedy, but because you have self-interest in survival, and don't want to die of thirst. The guy who looks at you and dumps the water over his head because he's a little sweaty, that's still self-interest, but it becomes "greed" because he's more concerned about his own self-interest than your (clearly greater) need.

This is an important distinction because self-interest is an important motivational force for humanity, something that's hard-coded into us at an instinctual level. It's possible to quash it, as an individual, but as a society, there will always be those who don't, and so society must take that into account, and provide an outlet and guidance for that self-interest, to ensure that it is productive rather than destructive.

This is where pure capitalism falls apart; there's no such guidance, and it's pure self-interest that wins the day. Which means individuals don't care about the suffering of others or the collapse of the economy, as long as they profit. That's the attitude that led to the Great Depression, and why the Western world is mostly on mixed economies these days.

That doesn't mean we should go with the opposite, communism. That goes too far the other direction, requiring everyone to forgo their self-interest in the name of the collective whole. As seen in the USSR and elsewhere, those who gain power inevitably use that power within the system to secure their positions and selves, because self-interest is a human constant. The theory behind communism is sound; ant colonies work by a similar principle, and they're highly successful as a species as a result. But we're not ants.


So yes; self-interest is good. But we do need to keep some reins on it, to keep it from going too far into the realm of greed.

well, greed is excessiv, so no, greed has not another name, self-interest is one thing, greed is another that wants to look innocent and trys to disguise itself as self-interest

Charlie Chaplin was deported. We can argue the whys with who wrote history but many believe this speech had much to do with it. Heavy price to pay just to speak past the propaganda.

deported? from where? britain? or the US? hu?

[Orcindauh]

I guess I can be a little greedy selfish bastard at times but hey...who isn't?

[Deleted]

Greed is not the problem, lack of empathy is.

My exact words.

[Zecora]

The reason why we overfish, the reason why we destroy nature and its ecosystems, the reason why we make food products that make us sick, the reason why some people are going hungry and are homeless, the reason why we go to war, and the reason why we don't care about these consequences.

is ultimately us being...

Greedy

As a human race, we are destroying everything we live around and everything were a part of just so we can make more money so we can be 'happy'. I'm sickened that we act this way, we don't care for the things we destroy because "At least I'm rich!"

Is there anyway we can stop the greed? Anyway we can give back to all that we have stolen from each other and nature in general?

Yep, Greed is disgusting, a curse upon humanity to be sure. Stop the greed? Hard. Best thing you can hope for is to regulate it.

[Deleted]

Greed is good.