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Although probably most of us don't want to admit it, despite our almost infinite language capability and our amazingly powerful science and technology based upon rationality (consistency with the rules of logic and the rules of evidence), ethically we are still mostly chimp-like, using mostly the authoritarian ethics that comes with our basic animal (hominid) nature, ethics that is based upon obedience to the most powerful (parent, leader, culture, deity). Consequently, we are talking, hi-tech "chimps," doing what chimps do but in our highly-sophisticated ways such that it is no longer so evident what is going on. (The best example, perhaps, is our tendency to fight, at all levels of relationship, from interpersonal to international, and with all levels of sophistication from murder and genocide to innuendo and cyberwarfare.)
The problem is that this way of living brings about much pain, suffering, disability, and early death (PSDED). Indeed, we are our most feared predator, and even what we do to ourselves (lifestyle) is pretty awful. And our whole species is at severe risk because of our widespread lack of, and denial of, the knowledge that our science and technology are making available to us.
Yet, because of our enormous language and hi-tech (rational) capabilities, we are indeed beginning to manifest a new kind of ethics, not authoritarian ethics, but instead rational ethics that is also consistent with an (not yet generally verbalized) ultimate ethical principle--something like: "We should do that which will promote, not only the survival of our species, but also as much joy, contentment, and appreciation as possible and as little pain, suffering, disability, and early death (PSDED) as possible, for everyone, now and in the future." This specific ultimate ethical principle, arbitrarily chosen by some of us for whatever reasons, now has the label "Humanian Ultimate Ethical Principle (HUEP)," and is what a Humanian, by definition, wants his or her ethical beliefs to be in sync with on a rational basis.
How far along are we in the development of this new kind of ethics? The news media and our own knowledge based upon our own personal experience can easily lead us to recognize that we are still just a toddler, with a long, long way to go. But those of us that are striving to go in that direction can have a much more satisfying life, as we increasingly train ourselves to behave consistently with the HUEP, and advocate for doing so.
In a Humanian organization, like Charlotte Humanianity, we work together on the never-ending task of becoming more ethical in our decision-making. We do this by challenging each other with regard to our ethical beliefs (about what we should and should not do) and by reviewing ethical presentations (in the media) that challenge our thinking. The challenging is necessary to help us grow, instead of remaining in denial while making life worse for ourselves and each other.
A major set of tools for studying is at humanianity.com (https://humanianity.com/humanianity/humhome.php).
BTW, Bill Van Fleet did not consider himself the "founder" of Humanianity. Humanianity is a phenomenon that has been emerging in many ways for quite some time; it is simply given it a label so that we can talk about it more specifically and help its emergence to occur a little more rapidly. This is an organization in which, as one way of studying, we include challenging each other's opinions in our pursuit of ever-increasing ethical wisdom, in order to have a more satisfying life and to do our parts to make the world a better place for everyone." - WVF
