Vanity is one of the things which are perhaps most difficult for a noble man to understand: he will be tempted to deny it, where another kind of man thinks he sees it self-evidently. The problem for him is to represent to his mind beings who seek to arouse a good opinion of themselves which they themselves do not possess--and consequently also do not "deserve,"--and who yet BELIEVE in this good opinion afterwards. This seems to him on the one hand such bad taste and so self-disrespectful, and on the other hand so grotesquely unreasonable, that he would like to consider vanity an exception, and is doubtful about it in most cases when it is spoken of. He will say, for instance: "I may be mistaken about my value, and on the other hand may nevertheless demand that my value should be acknowledged by others precisely as I rate it:--that, however, is not vanity (but self-conceit, or, in most cases, that which is called 'humility,' and also 'modesty')." Or he will even say: "For many reasons I can delight in the good opinion of others, perhaps because I love and honour them, and rejoice in all their joys, perhaps also because their good opinion endorses and strengthens my belief in my own good opinion, perhaps because the good opinion of others, even in cases where I do not share it, is useful to me, or gives promise of usefulness:--all this, however, is not vanity." The man of noble character must first bring it home forcibly to his mind, especially with the aid of history, that, from time immemorial, in all social strata in any way dependent, the ordinary man WAS only that which he PASSED FOR:--not being at all accustomed to fix values, he did not assign even to himself any other value than that which his master assigned to him (it is the peculiar RIGHT OF MASTERS to create values). It may be looked upon as the result of an extraordinary atavism, that the ordinary man, even at present, is still always WAITING for an opinion about himself, and then instinctively submitting himself to it; yet by no means only to a "good" opinion, but also to a bad and unjust one (think, for instance, of the greater part of the self- appreciations and self-depreciations which believing women learn from their confessors, and which in general the believing Christian learns from his Church). In fact, conformably to the slow rise of the democratic social order (and its cause, the blending of the blood of masters and slaves), the originally noble and rare impulse of the masters to assign a value to themselves and to "think well" of themselves, will now be more and more encouraged and extended; but it has at all times an older, ampler, and more radically ingrained propensity opposed to it--and in the phenomenon of "vanity" this older propensity overmasters the younger. The vain person rejoices over EVERY good opinion which he hears about himself (quite apart from the point of view of its usefulness, and equally regardless of its truth or falsehood), just as he suffers from every bad opinion: for he subjects himself to both, he feels himself subjected to both, by that oldest instinct of subjection which breaks forth in him.--It is "the slave" in the vain man's blood, the remains of the slave's craftiness--and how much of the "slave" is still left in woman, for instance!--which seeks to SEDUCE to good opinions of itself; it is the slave, too, who immediately afterwards falls prostrate himself before these opinions, as though he had not called them forth.--And to repeat it again: vanity is an atavism.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
And just as a herring-gull chick may peck at a red stick hoping to be fed by it, just as a jewel beetle may be tricked into attempting to mate with a beer bottle, so this atavistic instinct may be hijacked by the supernormal stimulus of a Fake Intelligence, and "the slave" in man may elicit, and fall prostrate before, the simulated "opinions" of that which has no opinions at all.
Many such cases, even and especially among those who definitely ought to know better.
5 comments:
Mirror mirror in the computer, who's the fairest of them ooter?
My thoughts on AI are... complex. I certainly don't worship it, far from that -- I see how others treat it and little use any myself at present, keeping to more specialised things like translation (and not with the big LLMs) -- but I can't write it off as entirely demonic either. I suppose it's the concept at base, the ideal of AI as a tool, and that we might treat it more carefully, neutrally, without the towering structure imposing upon us all. Maybe there's a lesson there we're soon to be retaught.
Actually, reading that Nietzsche passage, my mind first went to part of the email I sent you last night.
religion may have been the opiate of the masses, but 'AI' will be the LSD. it's going to get very dark for a lot of people, too many people, which means it will affect everyone. and it will make the feedback loop of social media seem like child's play.
William,
Although I was unaware of this particular writing of Nietzsche's,
I believe it very much mirrors my perspective
regarding the ego.
I know I've shared this a gazillion times before and I apologize
for being so repetitive but I feel my perspective about the ego
very much mirrors' Nietzsche's perspective about vanity so in
that regard I think this comment is pretty much on topic.
IMO the ego pleasures and protects the physical body only.
I believe that the ego and the soul are opposing forces.
I believe our ego, when unbalanced, becomes our
d-evil/evil which sounds very similar to ego.
Greed, Lust, Diabolical Power, Hate,
Jealously Narcissism/Arrogance , Prejudice , Bias etc.
are all, IMHO, unbalanced ego pursuits.
Growing up I recall finding it very hard to believe in a 'devil'
who is outside of us, 'waiting around every corner,
ready to tempt us.
Isn't it interesting that in many illustrations of the devil
it is depicted as having a red body.
Which of course our physical body is a red blood body,
so maybe the devil is inside of us?
I've shared this story (below) before however
I think it somewhat makes my point especially
about ego pursuits of prejudice and the vanity
of believing that some people are more 'chosen'
than others.
Here's the story :
My maternal grandmother Sarah (who was Caucasian)
and whom I've commented about before was a Christian
and read her Bible everyday.
My grandfather(William Floyd )
was Mulatto/ multiracial /Brass Ankle and the reason
why he and Sarah 'fled' from Kentucky as Sarah's
family were going to hang William when they learned of
the 'affair'. Keep in mind Sarah's family were Christian people.
Growing up I recall my grandfather saying several times
over the years that the biggest devil is in
the church.
I hadn't thought of that saying for a very long time , so I googled
it today and found this ,
copy and paste:
"The saying "the biggest devil is in the church" is a proverb
expressing the idea that the most dangerous or corrupting
influence can often be found within institutions
that are supposed to be moral and righteous.
It suggests that hypocrisy, greed, and abuse of power
can flourish even within religious settings.
This proverb is a warning against blindly trusting
institutions, even those with a reputation for good,
and encourages critical thinking and vigilance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When my grandparents moved to Dayton, they were restricted
to living on the West Side which was the 'black' side of town.
Grandma wanted to find a church to attend
with my grandfather
but of course the church had to be on the West Side
and my grandfather didn't want to listen to the Baptist
sermons about the Curse of Ham.
I believe that my grandparents were very strong people
to have the courage to run against the wind.
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