I don't care too much for money.

LouieW

Stormtroper,
Money gets you and your family health, education, other forms of personal growth and the free time to spend on them.

Yep, I pretty much agree. Money seems to be a means to an end. When people start seeing it as a end in itself then I think a lot of the problems associated with greed (and jealously) start happening.

As for post-scarcity, I have a lot of trouble understanding that idea when plenty of people talk a great deal about overpopulation and how things right now are not sustainable. Some of them even talk about stuff like the "Gaia hypothesis" and other doomsday theories. Basically, it seems weird to me that people simultaneously talk about a potentially post-scarcity society and one crippled by demographic problems and a lack of resources. I might just be misunderstanding both theories though. 

Gelzo

Greed isn't a natural human instinct? Maybe not greed for money, but I bet just about every creature instinctively prioritizes benefits for itself rather than for another individual all else being equal.

IanExMachina

^

Ants/other hive insects not to mention other creatures.

Also I wouldn't call that greed, it is survival, as say if a gannet is full from fishing, it doesn't keep going and disrupting the other gannets. etc

Gelzo

The phrasings "all else being equal" and "another individual" were intended to exclude those examples. I'm of course aware of them.

And don't forget instances where an alpha male takes more than his fair share of mates, or when an adult animal destroys a litter that doesn't belong to it. I think that could be considered greedy.

IanExMachina

^

Sorry I'd read that but forgot and mentioned it anyway.

How are you applying 'fair share' to animals?

Gelzo

I'm not sure, really, but a 1:1 ratio of males to females that end up mating in a community certainly doesn't always happen. I guess the same could be said for humans.

Icalasari

I see greed being behind all motivations for all species

It's just what they want that differs

For example, ants want their colony to be the one that thrives

Eh, greed isn't the best word. Anybody have another one (survival seems to be more of the goal...)

Gelzo

Self-interest? With flexible definitions of self and interest?

MadassAlex

including human nature, et cetera, et cetera. Even if it, through magic
or whatever, manages to succeed, it would end as a disaster. People
need struggle to motivate them, as well as a reward for their creative
endeavors. A hypothetical society without those factors would quickly
become stagnant, decadent and opressive. It would collapse upon itself.
Complete equality can never be achieved.

---

[Citation needed].

Whenever someone brings up human nature, it seems like postmodern cynicism more than anything. Where's the scientific data to back that perspective up, for instance? If memory serves, most studies in altruism and generosity indicate the human beings err towards being giving rather than selfish.

Postmodern cynicism is just a perspective, and one to be aware of within oneself. That perspective alone, however, does not constitute sufficient evidence to disprove a social intellectual such as Marx.

Icalasari

Self-interest? With flexible definitions of self and interest?

Thank you!

vandro

Self-Interest is the best term, I'd say.