Humanity's limiting factor?

[DanieMarie]

Re: Humanity's limiting factor?

I think it can be a bunch of stuff. A lot of the time it's just blind luck, but a lot of advantages help people out. Money and social status is a huge one (I'd say one of the biggest), but hard work and intelligence can still help you succeed. Still, at the end of the day, a lot of hard working, smart people never make it, no matter how hard they try, while a lot of fairly lazy and stupid people succeed just because they already had the resources to begin with. I wouldn't call money and social status the limiting factor, though, because people still get by without it and people still fail with it (albeit less often). I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think we have any one limiting factor. We are a very complex species and I think what pushes us forward or keeps us down is equally complex.

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Honestly, that was my immediate thought as well.

Why imagine that a person who is not a doctor or lawyer is "in a less desirable job"?

Despite the fact that it pays crap on a cracker, I like my job, and a lot of people would consider it very undesirable.

I stand behind this as well. I -could- be a lawyer. I could also easily be in finance (I did well enough in business school, at least). But I can't think of anything less appealing to do with my life.

I think our definition of "success" (by our, I mean our culture's) kind of sucks, to be honest. There are more important things than money. I'd far rather have enough to lead a comfortable life, but still have time to spend time with my family and have a personal life than be super rich and be at work all the time. Maybe some people see a CEO with a string of divorces and major heart problems as "successful," but personally, that's not my definition of success. What use is money if you can't enjoy it? Do you just hoard it like a dragon holed up in a mountain?

On top of that, a lot of the jobs that add a lot of value to society aren't always the best paid. Teachers and nurses are paid pretty terribly compared to investment bankers, but they are a million times more important. To me, someone who takes the time to teach kids is far more successful than someone who just manipulates money, even if their paycheck isn't as big. Arts are also highly undervalued. A visible minority might be paid a LOT of money, but for every musician making millions, there are thousands who can't make even a basic living off of their work. Yet, arts jobs are professions that require a huge deal of time, training, and skill to do at even a pretty average level. We as a society demand constant entertainment, but we rarely actually value the people who create that entertainment. Artists, musicians, writers, and so on rarely fit anyone's definition of "successful," but that's probably because our definition of successful blows.

[Starless]

Re: Humanity's limiting factor?

Lack of passion is what came to my mind. We were studying the concept of self-actualization in one of my classes last semester, which basically means living to one's fullest potential and thereby achieving inner peace and happiness in life. I don't think you can be truly happy unless you're doing what you were born to do. Doctors were born to save lives and relieve suffering, poets live to write, artists must create.

Too many people get sidetracked or allow themselves to fall into positions that simply pay the bills. It's a terrible loss when talent and passion go to waste.

[Ophidia]

Re: Humanity's limiting factor?

Success shouldn't be measured by how much you earn or how educated you are. It should be based around happiness and satisfaction. If you are happy and satisfied being you, you should be counted as successful. That being said...

We don't live in a world where anything is possible. The biggest limiting factor for an individual is an education. Education happens to be connected to socioeconomic factors.

I'm playing the race card. I think, beyond all other factors, the biggest indicator of 'success' (in America, at least, with our standard capitalist definition of a success) is that you're born a white male.

The median salary of a white man holding a Master's Degree is $60,000 a year. All educated people are still making twice as much as non-degree holders, and still getting more hours of employment each year - but the 'success' rate is centered around educated white men (or Asian men if they hold a Masters or higher).

As a white woman, my Associates degree (which is outside my current field of employment) grosses me more than a black woman with a Bachelors' degree, but less than a white man with an Associates. And the only reason I'm at the salary level I am is because of the Union. Without the Union's help, I probably would be unemployed or severely underemployed.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Humanity's limiting factor?

Lack of passion is what came to my mind. We were studying the concept of self-actualization in one of my classes last semester, which basically means living to one's fullest potential and thereby achieving inner peace and happiness in life. I don't think you can be truly happy unless you're doing what you were born to do. Doctors were born to save lives and relieve suffering, poets live to write, artists must create.

Too many people get sidetracked or allow themselves to fall into positions that simply pay the bills. It's a terrible loss when talent and passion go to waste.

It's easy enough to say that, but passion alone won't pay the bills. I studied writing and music and know a lot of writers and musicians. I know a lot of people who are very talented (far more talented than me). Few of them can make even a basic living doing what they love. Those that can have to make a LOT of compromises and take a lot of commercial work that they're less than thrilled about. Sometimes that work even takes up all of their time, leaving little time to work on their passion projects. A lot of artistic types really struggle. On one hand, they love what they do, but on the other hand, it can be a really rough life. It can be hard to feel "successful" by any definition when you train for years to do something, get way better at it than any of the hobbyists out there, work regularly, and still can barely manage (or can't manage) to make ends meet. It's not about sidetracked or living to your potential. It comes down to the fact that society just doesn't value the arts all that much. It loves to consume its products, but it doesn't actually -value- it.

This sort of hits close to home for me as well. I work as a writer and still have singing gigs from time to time. I would LOVE to make my living writing novels and short stories, or even writing regular newspaper and magazine articles. I'd love to pay my bills as a singer. It's just not that possible, though. One day, I might be able to pay my bills writing articles, but getting there is a rough road. Mostly, I have to do work to pay the bills, because I can't freaking eat just by following my passion. I don't mind the work that I do, but I wouldn't say I'm passionate about it, and sometimes I have no "words" left in my brain to contribute to my novel or stories. It's not about getting sidetracked or falling into a trap. It's just reality. Until people start paying more for the things we read, listen to, or watch, and/or until platforms, media outlets, and labels start paying artists more, and/or more government funding goes to the arts (and government stops cutting the little funding it already gives), artists will have to spend their time and efforts doing other things.

[LunarHarvest]

Re: Humanity's limiting factor?

I got into an interesting debate today on what a Human's limiting factor is, what separates those who achieve from those who fail (in a world whereby anything to an extent is possible).

I'm just curious as to what you guys think?
What is the one thing that separates budding lawyers and doctors from say, those in less desirable professions.

What detonates success though? If it is a purely monetary or economic fulfilment, then why is their unhappiness even there. To simply bring success to an economic level, in my opinion, ignores the glaring complexity of even the connotation of the word, and the ambiguous nature of the detonative meaning of the word when left to different contextual situations.

If we are to bring success down to the position that relates to the attempts made by any person to do something, and thus can denotatively succeed or fail, those who fail are those who do not have all of the pieces to fulfil the attempt they are making. Perhaps they are exploring an area of new scientific inquiry, but do not have the proper tools or knowledge already known to apply it effectively. Perhaps they simply are unable to muster the persistence to finish their work, or perhaps it is due to many variables both in and out of their control. It would ultimately be impossible to properly limit the number of 'limiting-factors' to a single point, in relation to the individual. Even in broad categories there are many 'limiting-factors', and they vary between human beings.

Humanity general does have a limiting factor though, and it comes from the physical nature of mankind. Mankind has already brought fourth out of the Earth great technological marvels and progress, and ultimately it is through the understanding of the physical world around us that we advance further and further in terms of technological wisdom. Ultimately, so long as there is something to discover about the world around us, and its near infinite complexities, there will always be a way to better improve and take further advantage of the physical nature.

That being said, with this being case, the limiting-factor of humanity is extended to the ability for humanity to collectively engage in the greater understanding of the physical world. No one human being can alone be successful or exist within a modern society. To put it simply, someone feeds the scientist, the philosopher, the ruler, the industrial worker, et cetera and each person plays a part in the collective success or failure of humanity. This web and network of human beings is the structure by which the limiting-factor of human beings can be reached.

To put it shortly, humanity's limiting-factor is humanity.