From: Jef Allbright (Groups@jefallbright.com)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 19:30:50 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
> > In my opinion it would best to appreciate the new insight about the
universe
> > you inhabit, ask yourself what activities give you personal satisfaction
at
> > this stage of your life, and then continue to pursue those interests.
>
> Yes, but isn't this what you always do? (Perhaps that's your point!)
Yes, my point was that we can never know the ultimate nature of our
universe, and while it's in interesting philosophical question, it doesn't
matter in terms rational day-to-day behavior. Hmmm...leads me to the old
question of how can atheists be moral people...
Altruism, and niceness, do exist as real discernable behaviors, but at root
they're motivated by intrinsically "selfish" concerns. Even when a person
willingly sacrifices his life for another, it's done to satisfy his own
needs at the time, based on his own values, interpreted by his own wetware.
I agree that natural selection and societal rewards have developed that
behavior trait, but even then it's the "selfish meme" that's responsible.
[R. Dawkins]
I'm a nice person -- because I like to believe it's the best long-term
strategy, it has worked for me so far, and it matches my existing
programming. I can easily imagine being placed in an environment where that
would be a recipe for a quick demise, and in that case I'd be working very
hard to change my programming. In other words, I'm nice because it suits
me, not for other people.
- Jef
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:57 MST