As soon as a human is born, we cry, because of the lack of warmth we suddenly feel. This lack of warmth follows us through our entire lives, in different forms and shapes. "If only I was stronger, I could have stopped that bully!" "If only I was more pretty, maybe he would have returned my feelings..." "If I just didn't stutter, I could have had my dream job."
The entire human race feels this, and struggle to fill it in some sort of way. First we made clothing because it was cold, but "Hey, I'm still hungry", so we made spears, and so on and so forth, for thousands of years. This never ending cycle has and still is leading our species through great, woundrous and facinating discoveries, yet we still want to learn more, make more, have more, just so we can fill this hole.

As soon as a pony is born, they are calm, because their fur keeps their warmth. They never face that moment of doubt humans do, they know for a fact that what they do was what they wanted through the power of Cutie Marks.
Why make clothing when I don't feel cold? Why make weapons when I can just eat grass? This has been their view of the world, of course modern Equestria has trains and farming, but with the help of magic, they should have been far far beyond humanity.

This is just my personal thoughts, be sure to critique and write your own thoughts on this matter.

but with the help of magic, they should have been far far beyond humanity.

Why make clothing when I don't feel cold? Why make weapons when I can just eat grass?

What made ponies strong became their downfall. Since most aren't born and taught through scorn like us as humans, they have become somewhat stagnant. It explains their childlike nature as ponies. Do you think Pinkie has ever seen a pony gutted? That depends if you have cupcakes as a head-cannon, but most likely not. This actually fits as well; those great discoveries on Equestria were made by people who have faced hell: Starswirl the bearded; He, as stated in the season 7 finale, had to maintain peace near single hoofed; he didn't research and create the tree of harmony because he felt like it, he had to protect those around him.

We humans invented the weapon most likely by finding out we could hit a tiger with a rock to defend ourselves. Most, if not all of our technology, was most likely originally for defense purposes. The internet? its based off of Arpanet, initially founded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense, for developing emerging technologies for use by the military, most likely for sending messages over long distances without enemies noticing them. Most of the science of atomic radiation, atomic change and nuclear fission was developed in the six of the years of the war, between 1939 and 1945. I wonder why?

Basically, without the warmth and comfort of magic we must improvise, strive, and adapt. Where ponies could sit back content in a comfortable life, we had no choice but to adapt and advance ourselves or die. Is do or die mentality that each day is driven by a will to survive and grow stronger pushes human tech farther in ways ponies can't grasp

I guess this is were the obligatory “conflict and struggle breaths evolution” argument comes into play.
Think about it, in the show most major problems or conflicts were dealt by a handful of individuals, namely the princesses and the elements of harmony.
So I guess if you look at it that way, it kinda makes sense why ponies aren’t superior in every way compared to humanity.

Deeep man....

..............Wow. Never thought about it that way. The ambition of man drives us further, and wrongful leaders caused us to doubt everything.

The ponies for a long time had their princesses, their eternal rulers who could do no wrong, commit no evil, or never lead them wrongly (detect the sarcasm?). Their leaders protected them and they saw no true evil ever. Evil is not a Jealous sister, a prankster trapped in stone for a long time, a hungry mother leading a starving race, or a betrayed brother.

No, evil is a man who will twist the youth of countries to fight their brethren, and wage war against the world. Evil is trying to purge an entire religion and all its believers for believing in something different. Evil is the lying to an entire world and standing by as hundreds of thousands starve. Evil is waging war for the sake of war or needless hate.

The ponies know no true loss, they know no hate, and because of it can not understand others. The waring nations of the Griffons and Minotaurs, or the territorial and prideful dragons. And could never understand what truly drives the pain filled, hateful, mistrusting, paranoid, greedy, honorable, traitorous, ever changing humankind.

Pretty sure the crying comes from being smacked and forcing us to painfully expand our lungs and breathe for the first time...

6927109
Kinda begs the questions on Celestia's true backstory too. Which makes me wonder if the more harden ponies or possibly even the nobles tried to stage a coup, uprising or plot to have her killed. In those 1000 years without Luna or the elements, I'm sure Celestia had to face a lot of hardships. That she most certainly keeps to herself. I feel she hardly ever opens up to anyone, including her own sister. Can't blame her, I bet shes just content with the status quo of things. After all, her sister returned, she has the elements now, the return of Starswirl the bearded, not to mention the changeling threat is over and etc...

6927073
6927132
6927109
People seem to confuse conflict and struggle with suffering. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention, and having everything you want can lead to stagnation, yes, having an immortal deity directly ruling their society has probably stifled conflict (and the resulting innovation) through maintaining peace, and yes having their role in life literally assigned to them based on their preferences has probably stopped more than a few ponies from making advancements they otherwise might have. HOWEVER, SUFFERING isn't necessary to advance and improve upon society.

It explains their childlike nature as ponies. Do you think Pinkie has ever seen a pony gutted?

How many people do you think Issac Newton had to see gutted to drive him to unlock the secrets of celestial motion. How many children did the Wright brothers have to see murdered before their eyes in order to give humanity the power to fly? Suffering is a powerful motivator for change, but it is not the only one. The show has clearly shown us that ponies feel sadness, anger, loneliness, greed, ambition, and many of the other emotions that drive humans to try to improve their lot in life, and as such are just as capable of advancement as humans. Maybe they progress at a slower rate, but to say that their lack of gruesome suffering is the reason they have less advanced technology is simply insane. To believe that the worst aspects of human civilization (genocide, murder, rape) are the only paths to our greatest achievements is to enshrine and glorify those horrible aspects of ourselves. Maybe those things sped up the process (the government bankrolling the harnessing of nuclear energy in 6 years instead of 30), but I absolutely refuse to believe that the only way to improve ourselves is to perpetuate the worst habits of humanity.

6927073
It's a pretty attractive view to adopt, what you propose, because it makes pain and suffering have a reason.

Unfortunately, it comes off quite wrong when proposed by people who have ready-made clothes with the best fibres possible, air-conditioning so they don't sweat or get cold, super-markets that throw tons of food away for looking spoiled, wars being waged so far away from them they probably can't even point them at a map, and so on.

It doesn't help that the idea that suffering and pain leads to invention is pure bullshit.

First of all, the primary reasons of invention, discovery, and art, have always been wonder, imagination, need, and want, fueled by excess of resources. The example that many cite, world war 2, was only possible because of the abundance of resources modern civilization gave, including distance from war, money, manpower, and the necessary physical material needs as well as the equipment made beforehand.

It's at peace and periods of abundance when we make stuff. You can't afford to think of a new design for a paperclip when your stomach's growling. That would be quite retarded to do.

So, I see why it's easy to point at a fantastical race and scorn at how soft and underdeveloped they are because they didn't "suffer" and thus gain the "perks". Problem is, advancement rolls in more ways than just technological, and these ponies kick our asses in almost every other field than tech and the fields that drive tech, the sciences (though Twilight seems well versed in math, so their physics can't probably be far behind either). Their equivalent of technology is able to manifest time travel (how close are we to that?), heal bones in a week in medicine, and socially they seem to have achieved a long-time peace that we haven't been able to touch even the 1/10 of it. The soft unsuffering ponies are one step away from utopia. We're fearful every day of falling into dystopia.

Oh yeah. Poor ponies.

6927776
Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, like my belief that rap is the worst music genre, Green Day and country go great together, and that despacito is a horrific song when translated.

6927780

Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs,

And OP said this:

be sure to critique and write your own thoughts on this matter.

Which, of course, isn't a permission that he or anyone else is required to give because you don't post your thoughts and opinions on a public forum with the option "no one dare say anything against them!" If you do, oh boy, you're in for a surprise!

And yes, he can believe that. But belief doesn't make something true or valid. Advancement can hardly come when beset by ills, which is why it's at peacetime when true progress is achieved. And what's more, we also have the fact of false equivalency of progression as if it is a linear and unique path that has certain steps. The fact that ponies don't have tanks or need them isn't against them. The opposite in fact.

Frankly, my belief, is that endorsing and glamourizing loss and pain like this is just this period's stupid way of saying "war is honorable" or a way of helping to be indifferent towards suffering. "Sure, they got nothing to eat, but that builds character!"

Though I will agree with you, partly, on rap. Modern rap is all about fake bravado, saying "bitches", and canned expressions and mannerisms. A pox upon it!

6927180
True, true, but it still is comparatively far more colder outside than inside our mother.
6927776
I never said "Pain and Suffering is the Mother of Invention", what I meant was "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".
You don't create the wheel because you are hungry, you create the wheel so you can carry more, so that you starve less frequently and get a bigger haul.

Also, do you know why big tech companies are still creating wonderful and innovative technologies, even during this peacetime? It is because they are trying to stay ahead of the competition. What once was fueled by countries wanting to destroy each other, now is fueled by the want to make a bigger paycheck, and those other pesky companies will try and take a piece of it (And other people view this as a bad thing, it isn't, the competition between companies benefits the consumers most of all)

But you have to admit, WW2 was an explosion of scientific discoveries and innovative technologies. You know Nuclear bombs? Now that technology is used to generate enormous amounts of power. You know ARPA? It is now the very thing you are using, The Internet. You know Spy Satellites? Now it is known as the Global Positioning System (GPS).
War and Competition make the same thing, only at different rates. Of course war is horrible, and should be the very, very last resort, but it still produces tech and science.

And now to the ponies. Yes, we shouldn't be scornful of them just because they don't suffer, but we should be scornful at them because they learn basically nothing for as long as the series has run, they only actually upgrade security of Canterlot Castle after it has been captured THREE times, all within a few years. The guards barely do anything other than look intimidating. The only thing that has saved Equestria from destruction has been the Royal family and the Elements of Harmony, and that is just unacceptable for the safety of Equestria.

6927862

But you have to admit, WW2 was an explosion of scientific discoveries and innovative technologies.

Yes, but people tend to equate that to mean that war drives invention or increases progress. In truth, it was the untold amount of vast resources that was thrown towards scientists in order to get an advantage. ARPA was built during peacetime. Same as all the rest (cold war wasn't an actual war).

War and Competition make the same thing, only at different rates.

War, by definition, is the act of destruction. Advances in warfare have been made, for the whole of human history, during peacetime with the weapons being released during war. That doesn't equate war making progress. It is the need/want to win the war and it is necessary for those advances to be made that there is enough relative peace. World War 2 was the greatest exception because, look at that, the front and battles weren't fought in America where the atomic bomb was developed neither on Germany itself (until the very end) where other advances were made.

Competition isn't the best motive for progress either. Competition demands that minimal resources are used for minimal progression, with only the number of competitive seasons driving that number up, and there are very few and rare exceptions to these. Proper research and development is what makes the best leaps forward, and they are not based on either of those two motivational methods you propose.

they only actually upgrade security of Canterlot Castle after it has been captured THREE times, all within a few years.

Leaving aside the meta reason that Canterlot needs to be captured for the sake of conflict that needs to be established and resolved within an hour, how do you know that Canterlot Castle security hadn't been upgraded from the very first moment? Remember that this is a magic kingdom and that the number of guards we see can be very well meaningless.

The one thing we know is that Canterlot keeps being invaded. The natural derivation isn't that it's done because it's easy. That's a speculation. Another speculation is that it keeps being invaded because the antagonists become increasingly competent. Then the scenario turns into the ponies becoming even more competent and able to adapt and face any adversity. There, now they are super-badasses, and the logic is just the same as yours.

The guards barely do anything other than look intimidating.

How do you know that if the show follows only the main six with just super rare glances at the guards? We know from the 100th episode that Bon-Bon put the bugbear in Tartarus (alone or not), a feat that required all main six to duplicate. And Bon-Bon's retired. How many badasses that we never see does Celestia have around we don't know about? The answer is that it doesn't matter. We don't follow their stories, and any stories where those unsung badasses win or any stories where Canterlot is attempted to be invaded and is deflected, is a story we will naturally not see because then there is no conflict for the main six.

The only thing that has saved Equestria from destruction has been the Royal family and the Elements of Harmony, and that is just unacceptable for the safety of Equestria.

In antithesis to what? Do you believe that an army is able to stop a single person from turning off the sun? Because we had armies searching for Bin Laden and it took months to find him and he surely wasn't a wizard.

because they learn basically nothing for as long as the series has run,

Me doth thinks you learned the wrong lesson.

There was a number of threats against them.

Now, with their way of running things, a majority of those threats are their allies.

I think they got things pat down. It's people who think shooting or more power is the answer are those that learn nothing, because in all of human history? Those ideas are exactly what have been driving wars.

"Scornful of ponies," hah! That's green jealously talking.

True, true, but it still is comparatively far more colder outside than inside our mother.

Nope. The hospital you were born in had air-conditioning and heating. They just smacked you on the ass, that's why you cried.

6927109

It explains their childlike nature as ponies. Do you think Pinkie has ever seen a pony gutted?

Really, Pinkie's the only adult pony that's childlike, so she's a special case. But they may be more naive than humans though. Most humans wouldn't want someone in their business, so "Map Missions" wouldn't work out well in the real world.

Just going to point out, humans and Equestrian ponies are two different species with different traits and very different environments and abilities. Trying to declare one "superior" is like comparing cartoon pizza to a real pizza. Very different.

6927180
i agree but he does point out a valid part og the truth

6928598
i like you. real pizza all the way!!!!

6928598
i like you. real pizza all the way!!!!

6928786
The very reason most the major events in the show take place is because of the human levels of suffering and traits ponies are capable of. Before the events of Hearths Warming, they nearly destroyed themselves due to greed, hate, and declarations of racial superiority. This guy completely invents crap when it is already established that their society is only the way it is because of the unification of the tribes and the careful leadership of their Princesses...

As for being born warm because they have fur, the fur itself would be useless as the foal develops in the womb, which is perpetually wet. The foal would be born soaked down to the skin and would be very cold and miserable. Baby blankets are wrapped around newborns to warm them after drying. The episode with the cake twins in the maternity ward has foals wrapped in blankets they wouldn't need if this guy was right and not just spouting blind idealistic ideas of pony perfection.

6928793
while that may be true he is just pointing out the way that he see's the mlp universe. both of your points of veiw are correct in your own head cannon

6927885
I can agree with all your points except the one I noticed you messed up on.

We know from the 100th episode that Bon-Bon put the bugbear in Tartarus (alone or not), a feat that required all main six to duplicate. And Bon-Bon's retired.

She actually failed the bugbear mission and got ghosted for it escaping Tartuas. However, the fact she is trained to hunt and fight monsters is impressive in itself. I'm more impressed by the fact that the ponies have infiltrated the underworld and are using it as a supermax prison despite all the nasty things supposedly lurking down there.

6928801
Hmm. I thought she had said she had captured it and the bugbear might have been looking for her... I'll have to see that scene again. Either that or I'm mixing that scene with something similar.

6928821
Your mixing. She was responsible for its escape when she was supposed to be dealing with it herself. Her entire division was ghosted and reasigned to new identies as punishment for such a huge failure.

6928828
According to the wiki (at work so I can't see the episode straight) we got it both right in a way. She WAS responsible for catching it in the first place, but the agency did ghost when the bugbear escaped Tartarus. So... badass agent who had her fill of the adventurous life?

It is revealed that Sweetie Drops is actually a former agent working for a monster-hunting agency out of Canterlot, but the agency was dissolved when a bugbear escaped from Tartarus. As the one who had originally captured it, Sweetie Drops went undercover in Ponyville using the alias "Bon Bon" to leave her old life behind.

6927885
Well, at this point I guess we'll just agree to dissagree. While I don't agree with you, I can't convince you otherwise. (It was a fun debate bud)

Ponies do seem to have a greater sense of security, both physical and emotional, than your average human. While they are more emotionally safe than most humans, they seem to just accept threats that would have humans arming up and starting crusades.

6927180
Im pretty sure it is both. They are ussually covered in afterbirth and the room is probably colder than the womb.

6927326
I think suffering/discomfort does do lead probably a good amount of others in mass to make changes is what he means. There are some who will just naturally try to make improvements, but harsh suffering will probably motivate the most amount of sentient beings the fastest to make changes.

I hope I put my point to words well wnough. But you do bring up a interesting point.

6927776
Well you could say we got to this point because suffering made us start to adapt and make the building blocks for future innovations. You are correct, but peace time and what you describe from my point of view can only bring in certain types of innovations in mass. Harsh conditions breed innovation to adapt to the those harsh conditions of Darwinism is to be believed. No matter how much I despise it's creation the atomic bombs creation was probably made sooner than otherwise thanks to the great wars.

You have a good point though. Developments in art, and other small innovations probably wouldn't be as encouraged during harsh war n other such insufferable situations. But then again during times of peace there probably isn't as much pressure to create and innovate things many and no offense would consider more important because they'd probably have to do greatly with how much they increase survivability for lack of a better word, as which would be the type of innovations commonly made in harsh conditions.

Though I enjoyed reading your argument it was quit thought inducing, thus I thank you.

6929382

But then again during times of peace there probably isn't as much pressure to create and innovate things many and no offense would consider more important because they'd probably have to do greatly with how much they increase survivability for lack of a better word, as which would be the type of innovations commonly made in harsh conditions.

In times of cold, people will try to find a better blanket, if they can. They'll mostly come up with stuff like a double-blanket. In times of plenty, they will figure out how to look at a black hole in the center of the galaxy or cure diseases.

There are different pressures in different stages that lead to different kind of innovations. These pressures are not equated with pain and suffering (and any fantastical advantage that supposedly comes with them) because they the outcome of those pressures failing to get a successful response. For instance, with current climatological threats and general power deficiencies approaching in the future, alternate methods of energy have been researched and been sophisticated at an insane rate. In a failed scenario, which would lead to the 'beneficial' advantage of humanity that the OP proposes, those climatological threats and fuel shortages would be true and would provide the suffering. Do you believe that in such conditions there could be any kind of advance in the field of alternate energy, outside of a hollywood movie? So, no. Harsh conditions don't have to exist to create pressures that lead to innovations of a survival nature. Harsh conditions impede such, because they are separate from pressures.

Think of it like you being at your home. You see clouds gathering, so you pick up an umbrella before going out and succeed in remaining largely unsoaked in your outing. That's because the pressure (threat of rain) made you 'innovate' (pick up an umbrella). Now, imagine you're outside and the rain catches you unaware. You don't have an umbrella with you, you can't make one, and the best possible scenario to remain unsoaked involves you waiting until the rain stops under some cover, still getting soaked somewhat at the very least and not managing to finish your outing. THAT'S how harsh conditions impede you and impede progress, not push it forward.