From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2000 - 19:53:25 MST
From: Menno Rubingh <rubingh@delftnet.nl>
>Huh ? I think that from selfishness you get self-respect, and an urge to
>improve yourself and to embrace 'Dynamic Optimism'. I am a thoroughly selfish
>person -- which makes me want to improve (= to make more useful to myself) the
>parts of the world I'm in contact with because (1) I want to improve *myself*
>and (2) because of the circumstance that I am an inextricable *part* of the
>world.
In that case, and with that definition of selfishness, who is not selfish? The
term means not much.
When I use the word selfishness, I mean the instinctive, biological, congenital
behavior that derives from unconscious evolution. To transcend biological
imperatives, one needs to supplant the biologically-implanted selfish gene with
a non-biological, inorganic, non-carbon based entity.
To remain selfish, immured in the idea of "self," means to remain an animal.
--J. R.
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