Human Nature? Odd or just Bizarre?

[the dark side]

Last night, a very interesting conversation sprung up in my "Graphics and physics engines" thread, regarding the very strange nature of the modern human, there tendancy, in ever larger numbers, to use mind warping drugs or souse their brain in Alcahol, the way people seem to thrive witin areas that have a lack of order and are swamped in noise and random stimuli, it all strikes me as incredibly strange, so, the question is asked, what is going on with human nature in c21? have humans always been this way, or has society changed in ways wich have caused human nature to become distorted and warped to match the current culture? it really is a most interesting question, and i would love to see peoples theories on the subject.

feel free to discuss.