Do humans NEED something to worry about?

[Kärnfysikern]

Kind of a scetchy question.

But has it occured to anyone how afraid and worried people in general seem to be?

I mean in prehistoric times we atleast had real worries. Like beeing eaten by that big ****ing cat with fangs outside the cave, having enough food to survive winter or beeing raped by the hairy mofo in the cave nextby.

But now we live so safe and good that if we are going to die out of anything its heartattacked casued by lazyness.

yet people worry worry worry worry. We dont dare to eat butter cause its so horrible, we belive breathing the air will give us cancer, global warming will destroy us, nuclear war is inevitable, the ozon layer will disapere so we all get cancer, GMO foods will mutate us, the water makes our nuts shrink and give girls big tits, michel jackson is out to get us blablabla.

Scaremongers attract people like shit attract flies. If the newspapers doesnt write about the next horrible threat to your life, kids, health, town, city, country, potency, hairline then nobody buys it.

Is there any evolutionary trait that just prevents us(as a spieces or atleast society) from sitting back and saying "damn life is good and it just keeps on getting better"??

[Timm1704]

dude, preach! couldnt agree more. especially this bodybuilding lifestyle. i cant go a week without someone saying "12 egg whites a day? that is really bad for you" "sunbeds? are you TRYING to get cancer?" "SHIT!..... STEROIDS!? AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

like beer, alcohol, and eating shit is any better. but as everyone does those things, it must be ok

[MuscleScience]

Yeah, its the instinct to survive, even other animals have survival stresses. Dogs for example will "worry" in times of famine. I say worry because they display the same physiological stress markers, chemically, physically and mentally as humans that show stress over paying bills or whatever it is.
I worry about stupid sh^t all the time. Cant even imagine how bad it is for those with OCD

[C_Bino]

Good points. I even notice it on a smaller scale as well. If life is going by just too ordinarily people have to start creating a problem just in order to worry about something. People cant just appreciate what you said "that life is good and it cant get any better," but I will sometimes notice if there is nothing really GOING ON and im on the phone with a friend and its just the same old thing they feel the need to make something to worry about or just bring up drama so I guess life is more interesting...kinda ridiculous.

[Prada]

Well one thing is that religion, moral, and education has brought as at a point where some of that fear has ceased. We are brought up thinking that raping stealing, lieing and so on is just not moral or right.

Another is we have developed rules, regulations and a justice system, jursiprudence. We now have the responsibilty of our actions whether or not you believe in some omnipresent and omniscient being.

I firmly believe that these scare tactics are often created for different purposes: for politcal grounds, capitalistic reasons, suppression, et etera. Many peoples threshold for this mass information and media influx is quite low. They fall victim of all this on the other hand it is humna nature for one to profit from anothers fears. Hence would creating fear create profit?

[Kärnfysikern]

Yeah, its the instinct to survive, even other animals have survival stresses. Dogs for example will "worry" in times of famine. I say worry because they display the same physiological stress markers, chemically, physically and mentally as humans that show stress over paying bills or whatever it is.
I worry about stupid sh^t all the time. Cant even imagine how bad it is for those with OCD

Interesting, I didnt know that about dogs!

But I wonder if our civilisation, upbrining or something like that adds to our genetic inclination to be cautious? A dog that is safe in a good home probably doesnt worry. But a safe human in a good home does.

Also the fact that when we are younger we are usualy careless. We dont spend time worrying about useless things and often do not even worry about real dangers. Is it because our brain hasnt matured yet, or is it because the fearmongering hasnt had a chanse to effect kids and to some extent teens fully?

Good points. I even notice it on a smaller scale as well. If life is going by just too ordinarily people have to start creating a problem just in order to worry about something. People cant just appreciate what you said "that life is good and it cant get any better," but I will sometimes notice if there is nothing really GOING ON and im on the phone with a friend and its just the same old thing they feel the need to make something to worry about or just bring up drama so I guess life is more interesting...kinda ridiculous.

I wonder if this is just a thing we do in the west or of its comon in the entire world.
I read about some scetchy study trying to compare how happy people are in the west compared to poor people in asia. The suprising thing was that the people in the west is much less happy. I bet all this artificial worrying is one of the causes for that.

Well one thing is that religion, moral, and education has brought as at a point where some of that fear has ceased. We are brought up thinking that raping stealing, lieing and so on is just not moral or right.

Another is we have developed rules, regulations and a justice system, jursiprudence. We now have the responsibilty of our actions whether or not you believe in some omnipresent and omniscient being.

I firmly believe that these scare tactics are often created for different purposes: for politcal grounds, capitalistic reasons, suppression, et etera. Many peoples threshold for this mass information and media influx is quite low. They fall victim of all this on the other hand it is humna nature for one to profit from anothers fears. Hence would creating fear create profit?

I agree that many of those fears are probably artificialy created for some purpose. Often I guess just to make money. Newspapers need to keep people thinking disaster is near to keep selling. No one buys a newspaper with the headline
"everything is sweet. Go home and grab a beer and relax.Living has never been this safe before"

I read a interesting thing. In america crime has gone down with something like 20%(cant remember over what time period), but the number of crime reports in media had increased by 50%. So everyone asked belived that crime had increased!!

What I find fascinating though is that we are so eager to swallow all the fearmongering. There seems to be nothing that attracts interest quite as much. I mean a simple story like "deep fried food cause cancer" usualy ends up so big that it overpower all other headlines. It doesnt matter that you have to eat 10kg/day for 20 years to be in danger.

How many are still deadly afraid of eating eggs because of the whole it raises cholesterol bs 10-20 years ago?

We realy absorb and live by all the fear promoting things we encounter. Or as bino mentioned we even invent our own things to worry about when we lack better things to do.

[MuscleScience]

Interesting, I didnt know that about dogs!

But I wonder if our civilisation, upbrining or something like that adds to our genetic inclination to be cautious? A dog that is safe in a good home probably doesnt worry. But a safe human in a good home does.

Also the fact that when we are younger we are usualy careless. We dont spend time worrying about useless things and often do not even worry about real dangers. Is it because our brain hasnt matured yet, or is it because the fearmongering hasnt had a chanse to effect kids and to some extent teens fully?



I wonder if this is just a thing we do in the west or of its comon in the entire world.
I read about some scetchy study trying to compare how happy people are in the west compared to poor people in asia. The suprising thing was that the people in the west is much less happy. I bet all this artificial worrying is one of the causes for that.




I agree that many of those fears are probably artificialy created for some purpose. Often I guess just to make money. Newspapers need to keep people thinking disaster is near to keep selling. No one buys a newspaper with the headline
"everything is sweet. Go home and grab a beer and relax.Living has never been this safe before"

I read a interesting thing. In america crime has gone down with something like 20%(cant remember over what time period), but the number of crime reports in media had increased by 50%. So everyone asked belived that crime had increased!!

What I find fascinating though is that we are so eager to swallow all the fearmongering. There seems to be nothing that attracts interest quite as much. I mean a simple story like "deep fried food cause cancer" usualy ends up so big that it overpower all other headlines. It doesnt matter that you have to eat 10kg/day for 20 years to be in danger.

How many are still deadly afraid of eating eggs because of the whole it raises cholesterol bs 10-20 years ago?

We realy absorb and live by all the fear promoting things we encounter. Or as bino mentioned we even invent our own things to worry about when we lack better things to do.

I think I remember reading that dogs also worry about there owners. Since typically the owner is considered the alpha that when the owner is away that the dog will again "worry" about thier owner. It just a matter of exchanging one stress for another. If you think about it if and animal in the wild isnt constantly stressed about something then thats when the lion sneaks up on them, or they fail to find a mate or even track that next meal down. From what I understand about stress mechanisms and this isnt my area of expertise, is that stress is suppose to be natures insentive to perform a task. Its a motivating fact the same as pain, hunger, and pleasure are.

[MuscleScience]

Another thing to add that i forgot is that humans at a young age really have a limited capacity for forethought. Meaning they can see far enought ahead of time to see what actions need to be taken for a particular circumstance. I know when i was 17 or 18 i didnt think ahead much more than a week at a time. Not cause I didnt want to but because I really dont believe I had the mental aquity to actually do it. Of course I have never been really smart just motivated not to be completely stupid. LOL

[perfectbeast2001]

I know quite a lot of people whose lives revolve around worrying. They ring up (normally to talk to my GF) then go on and on about various dramas they are having in there lives. It's like they want to worry. They are like "my sisters best friends brother is in hospital having chemo im gonna go visit". Man they dont even know the person. They just love the drama of it all.
Personally I avoid worrying like the plague, it's catabolic!

[rubix6]

interesting!!

[moregunsthanroses]

I have learned, most people go through life looking for reasons to get pissed off. Needing something to worry about is a simliar idea in many ways.

A person can always find somethign to worry about or upset them, if thats what they want.

I know at times im guilty of finding things to get pissed off about, and all it does it make you unhappy. Some things you should worry about but u cant let it consume you.

I remember reading a thread a few days ago about a guy who peeled out after a party, The posters friends were worried about that waking people up so they threw a beer at this car, the guy went in reverse got out and immediatly the guy in the truck got beat up.

This is a prime example of looking for a reason to get pissed off, and worrying about somenthign for no good reason. Liqour may have played a role in this but they were looking for something to get pissed off about.

Edit: Thought of a good example

[ect0m0rph]

Yeah I agree, there are some people who are not happy unless they have something to complain about. I have a roommate that would constantly worry about school to a crazy level, and would say I cant wait to be out of school. Then he was and he started freakin out about getting a job and now he has a job and he is always complaining about that. He is going to have an ulser by age 25

[WelshWarrior]

Totally does. If people have little to occupy them small things become huge. My girlfriend was in tears the other night cos one of her heels broke. I remember laughing thinking how lucky she was that that became top of the pile.

I mean it wasn't the straw that broke the camels back, it was the only thing she was fretting over!

[Bojangles69]

I didnt read the initial post but any living organism that grows or evolves must experience stress or fear.
"Worrying" is a manifestation of these stressors or fears.
And it is all a result of adaption.

[Prada]

I agree that many of those fears are probably artificialy created for some purpose. Often I guess just to make money. Newspapers need to keep people thinking disaster is near to keep selling. No one buys a newspaper with the headline
"everything is sweet. Go home and grab a beer and relax. Living has never been this safe before"

I read a interesting thing. In america crime has gone down with something like 20%(cant remember over what time period), but the number of crime reports in media had increased by 50%. So everyone asked belived that crime had increased!!

What I find fascinating though is that we are so eager to swallow all the fearmongering. There seems to be nothing that attracts interest quite as much. I mean a simple story like "deep fried food cause cancer" usualy ends up so big that it overpower all other headlines. It doesnt matter that you have to eat 10kg/day for 20 years to be in danger.

How many are still deadly afraid of eating eggs because of the whole it raises cholesterol bs 10-20 years ago?

We realy absorb and live by all the fear promoting things we encounter. Or as bino mentioned we even invent our own things to worry about when we lack better things to do.

This reminds me a lot about psychology and how humans are "socially programmed" or conditioned. Add capitalism to the equation and ignorance, leads to a recipe for disaster. Just like people making bomb shelters, nuclear bunkers. Where you can create fear you can create wants and demands which will derive money.

[thegodfather]

I dont think we could pin any single variable down as to why people like to be stressed. I noticed this in myself a couple of years ago that if I had periods of time where there really wasnt anything wrong that I felt somewhat anxious and needed something to occupy my time...I guess I have kinda gone in the complete opposite direction because I try my hardest now days not to let many things upset me.

Talking about civilization in general. I believe the single biggest downfall of our civilization is the Bible and any other organized religion or organization which tries to make people feel forever indebted to some higher being. What a shitty way to live your life, by something which people cant even observe as being true. Organized religion has probably caused more turmoil, death, destruction, and slowed the progress of science than anything else ever to exist on Earth short of a ****ing meteor crashing into Earth.

Anyway, Johan I can definately see your point and it'd be interesting for a sociologist to explore this topic some more..

[Schmidty]

Think about it. If we didnt have all of theis prople stressing out about stupid shit. their would be alot of people out of jobs. The people who get payed to study all that shit, the people who make the equipment for the people to study the shit. The list goes on and on.

[Panzerfaust]

Nic epost Johan, and yes people always seem to need something to bitch about.

I know people that if their life is going good, they create a shit storm just to have something to bitch about.

90% od the problem today is TV, people have been programmed to follow it and believe everything that is said via the media.

The media makes it sound like terrorism has only been around for the last 5yrs since 9/11 when in fact they have been around for ages. You are more likely to get killed by a deer than terrorist, yet people seem spo scared of terrorists.

There was a study done recently abou how many deaths in America from terrorists versus Deer, Car Wrecks etc...

Beleive me, the last thing you need to be worried about is a ****ing terrorist.

It is just a scare tactic by the gov't and the media to keep people behind the fake ass war in Iraq etc.

[novastepp]

i talk about this all the time when i mentor college level biology. exactly what is evolutionary. i use stress a lot and talk about what we are programmed to believe by society. i love those statistics about you're more likely to die from choking than by a shark attack. and the most common animal to kill a human is in fact a hippo.

i tell you what brothers. my stress level has been lowered, my happiness elevated, my mood overall has increased...ever since i got rid of t.v.

[prncezzml]

Kind of a scetchy question.

But has it occured to anyone how afraid and worried people in general seem to be?

I mean in prehistoric times we atleast had real worries. Like beeing eaten by that big ****ing cat with fangs outside the cave, having enough food to survive winter or beeing raped by the hairy mofo in the cave nextby.

But now we live so safe and good that if we are going to die out of anything its heartattacked casued by lazyness.

yet people worry worry worry worry. We dont dare to eat butter cause its so horrible, we belive breathing the air will give us cancer, global warming will destroy us, nuclear war is inevitable, the ozon layer will disapere so we all get cancer, GMO foods will mutate us, the water makes our nuts shrink and give girls big tits, michel jackson is out to get us blablabla.

Scaremongers attract people like shit attract flies. If the newspapers doesnt write about the next horrible threat to your life, kids, health, town, city, country, potency, hairline then nobody buys it.

Is there any evolutionary trait that just prevents us(as a spieces or atleast society) from sitting back and saying "damn life is good and it just keeps on getting better"??

I think the media greatly contributes to this epidemic of fear and anxiety. When they were making a big deal about the bird flu, and how it was going to kill us all, I was starting to feel a little panicked (I watch Fox news too much). Now, they haven't said a word about an outbreak in 4 months. They just want to have something to talk about. It's really annoying.