“Darwinism undermined traditional morality and the value of human life. Then, evolutionary progress became the new moral imperative. This aided the advance of eugenics, which was overtly founded on Darwinian principles. Some eugenicists began advocating euthanasia and infanticide for the disabled. On a parallel track, some prominent Darwinists argued that human racial competition and war is part of the Darwinian struggle for existence. Hitler imbibed these social Darwinist ideas, blended in virulent anti-Semitism, and--there you have it: Holocaust” HumansIdeasWarValuesSocialExistenceMoralPrinciplesStruggleProgressMoralityCompetitionTrackTraditionalHuman LifeHolocaustParallelsImperativesDisabledEugenicsAdvocatingProminentAnti SemitismDarwinismEuthanasiaInfanticideStruggle For ExistenceValue Of Human Life Author:Richard Weikart
“In its broad sense, civilization means not only comfort in daily necessities but also the refining of knowledge and the cultivation of virtue so as to elevate human life to a higher plane... It refers to the attainment of both material well-being and the elevation of the human spirit, [but] since what produces man's well-being and refinement is knowledge and virtue, civilization ultimately means the progress of man's knowledge and virtue.” MenHumansWellsMeanSpiritVirtueProgressProduceMaterialsHigherComfortCivilizationWell BeingPlanesHuman LifeBroadsHuman SpiritAttainmentRefinementCultivationElevationRefining Author:Fukuzawa Yukichi
“Time is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure after the departure of time? and the most consolatory, since pain, when pain has passed, is nothing. Time is the wheel-track in which we roll on towards eternity, conducting us to the Incomprehensible. In its progress there is a ripening power, and it ripens us the more, and the more powerfully, when we duly estimate it. Listen to its voice, do not waste it, but regard it as the highest finite good, in which all finite things are resolved.” LifeHumansImportantPainVoicePleasureProgressWasteHighestEternityRegardImportant ThingsTrackHuman LifeWheelsFiniteDepartureConductingRipening Author:Alexander von Humboldt
“Of course, it's always difficult to disentangle fact from fiction in relation to, e.g., the singularity project. Many scientists I know are dismissive of transhumanist claims, BUT the last 100 years has surely taught us never to underestimate the pace and scope of scientific progress. However, even if much of this turns out to be science-fiction, it also reveals a way of thinking about human life that I find deeply troubling.” IfsThinkingKnowsWayYearsHumansFactsLastsTurnsCoursesDifficultFictionProgressTaughtProjectsScientistClaimsRelationScience FictionHuman LifePaceUnderestimateScopeWay Of ThinkingTaught UsSingularityScientific Progress Author:George Pattison