# Is humanity becoming more or less moral? *Is humanity's morality improving or declining?* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/s/16/ - Date: 2021-04-26 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Lupe Fiasco | Stardom, Semiotics & Soul-searching | MindTrap#56 | Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki MALM (1:23:42–1:28:55) - Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYiiPEhuiHA&t=5022s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/ **Topics:** Philosophy and ideas; Islam and modernity **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest says morality is remade daily, with no overall rise or fall and no consistent definition; Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees. ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth asks whether, after decades of rapid technological change, humanity is on a moral incline or decline. The guest says he does not really trust history but it is all we have, and asks what conditions set the tone for morality through crisis, plenty, famine and disruption, and what happens when archaic social strategies are applied to an era that has passed. He says morality 'gets made day of': each person can treat others differently each morning, adjusting others' ethics for a while before it resets, as it has since the beginning and even in the animal kingdom. He concludes there is no up or down and no consistent definition of morality, and Mufti says he agrees. ## Sources and names cited - Lupe Fiasco (guest) ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:23:42–1:28:55) [1:23:03] extend the life story of folks who died so tragically um and for no reason to give them a new role at least mythologically in today's era you know through hip-hop you know so you get these like these stories whether they're heroes or anti-heroes the cool is kind of like an anti-hero but these people are heroes um you know coming back to fight you know doing their part to sink slave ships wow you know yeah sorry i see your mind i see your eyes glazing over no no no i'm just nah that that's very very powerful no no no absolutely i'm uh that's [1:23:42] no not at all lupe that is honestly that's what not at all that's absolutely seriously that's just that's so just wow overwhelming you know what what are your thoughts lupe somebody who's you know who's who's walked this walk of life and you've also gone through i mean there's been you know in the past few decades just with technology alone the world has just gone through so many transformations uh within a short span of time really what do you think when it comes to issues like [1:24:21] morality and stuff like this do you feel humanity is i mean is it is it kind of is it on an incline or a decline what what do you think wow oh we're going to resolve them all tonight tiny the tiny questions um i mean you know as i look back as best we can right i don't really trust history you know but it's kind of like all we got you know trying to piece things back together and do you do you look at it through archaeology do you look at it through [1:24:59] um text do you look at it through oral tradition like you know do you look at it through uh i guess geology or geography right um what are what what is the situation that set the tone for the morality of humanity right and how has that fluctuated and changed in the face of crisis in the face of uh plenty in the face of famine in the face the feast right um in the face of uh uh uh uh uh innovation but not not they don't call it innovation disruption right um what happens to the social fabric and the conditions and things of that nature and then what happens when you try to apply [1:25:39] uh archaic or uh incompatible social social strata strategies in an era where it just is it's it's it's past it it's done like you can't keep bringing that back like it's done all right that zombie is dead right it's back to the cool like this guy comes back to life but he has nothing to do you know he's just kind of floating around in the world getting on the train it's like what it's serving no real purpose um so i think with that kind of in my mind um i think morality morality gets made you know day of yeah you know [1:26:16] like and it just so happens that there's everybody has the capacity when they wake up to morning to like have a new thing like i'm going to treat this person this way i'm going to treat this person that way and you're going to have a certain reaction and a response that person's going to you know have his morality or ethics adjusted um or again disrupted for that period of time um maybe there's some mind sync and then it tapers off because you get into something else you know you you're on on your way to see a film or you're on your way to see a concert or go to the mosque or go to the temple or whatever um and you get a chance to reset and maybe it stays in your mind [1:26:56] um then you go to sleep and you forget it ever happened and you wake up to something you know humanity do do you feel that's kind of by that do you mean it's do you feel it's kind of getting we're getting better as we're going along or are we are we getting worse i say that to say that you know i think it's i don't think there is any up or down wow and i don't think that there's a because there's so much fluctuation that it just tends to just spoken like a true quantum physicist people that's a [1:27:35] but no seriously i think that because there's so much daily daily and minute by minute change and update of morality right and i think that it's been that way since the beginning of math right i think it's been that way in the animal kingdom i think it's i think there's a certain morality that's there yeah certain people certain certain members of the animal kingdom transcend certain things on a certain day in the face of certain things in the face of this and face that fighting for the alpha position or trying to sustain a beta position in tribe or something like that um so i think that morality gets made day of yeah no i'm i'm with you i agree then [1:28:14] the next day it's depending on if it's cloudy outside or depending on what the conditions are morality is going to change again morality's going to change again and with that i don't think you can have a consistent definition right and maybe things meet that definition maybe they don't but i think there's a certain fallacy a certain artificiality in the definition itself right because this morality expands so many human behaviors and thoughts right but i think about it now right and maybe this is a question you can help me with out of the [ __ ] which is my favorite word [1:28:54] real talk you know i asked you interesting questions from time to time right of course i think about i'm making salat right um and for me salat has always been about a reduction of eliminating certain distractions you know putting myself in a position to be you know pure in that moment for that period of time that i'm in that right and so i got at one point i was voodoo obsessive okay right and i had to find a way to kind of come down from right okay um to minimize it again reduction right it's not it's not that important if you got if you just didn't do the ear just keep ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment oYiiPEhuiHA/s/16. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/oyiipehuiha/s/16/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. 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