This society is built on the assumption that we have free will. If we deny that everything crumbles.
Whether or not we have free will I've come to the conclusion that we have less say in what we do or become than many of us assume.
I live as if I decide everything I do and assume everyone else has a choice as well, but when I
think about it I'm not so sure anymore. But again, we have to live as if we were in control.
Until for one reason or another, you lose control. I guess a smart man, woman, is someone who lives a long life , get the most of it, see others die, fail before him, benefit from their downfalls, and keeps everything and everyone under control -ie helping him /her survive as long as possible-. Isnt that the ideal man, woman figure we all wish we could be, or have, as a mentor/adviser?
Also people tend to admire people who survive difficulties, adapt, stay alive while others would have failed. Because what we admire is "life", or "lifeforms" that survive, adapt, dominate instead of being dominated. Who admires the weak lion in a group, nobody , everyone admires the strong alpha male that fuck every female he wants when he wants and who eats other males offsprings before fucking their mothers. We are nothing more than animals who are conscious of being animals, that's our only difference with other animal species, but in the end, we share and live by the same intrinsical principles; kill or get killed. Fuck, eat, hide, dominate, submit, flee, cooperate, reproduce, sleep, drink...die.