Advantage Post

I thought I was really getting somewhere in terms with understanding the slightest bit of this book. Then, we read today's passage. I understand what Dostoyevsky is saying how something so dangerous to us is actually our advantage, but I cannot seem to see what that advantage is.

More or less, I was able to follow this idea of people doing things that are dangerous for them even when they are fully conscious of the dangers. That concept was not really something new to me, or anyone I hope. We often hear about people doing things like smoking, driving drunk, doing drugs, etc. because they have the "invincible and immortal" mentality. Every individual would like to think that the potential for lung cancer is only existent in other people's lives and not theirs. People like to think that this one time the drive drunk they will not crash. Evolution may work its charm on the animals but humans only seem to get weaker and this notion/mentality of invincibility stronger. 

We began to discuss in class that this ability of humans to disregard, is the advantage. I had no problem understanding that. I just can't seem to envision how it functions as an advantage because I can only see the negatives. This mentality is what kills us and shortens our lives significantly. The only slight advantage I see in it is that this "fuck it" mentality is what has lead us to what we have today. Our ability to disregard, especially the fundamental laws that evolution sets, has permitted us to have the societal structure e have today. Evolution dictates that the weakest do not survive, and because of that the species gets stronger. We, however, have decided to disregard that knowing the danger of getting weaker, and have made our own society and lived our lives as we please.