From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Sun Jul 07 2002 - 10:32:53 MDT
From: "Anders Sandberg" <asa@nada.kth.se>
> On Sat, Jul 06, 2002 at 09:21:49PM -0700, Olga Bourlin wrote:
> > Agree that most humans lack rationality - in fact, our most "advanced"
and
> > civilized cultures lack rationality. But beyond the problem of finding
what
> > is "rational," how are we going to administer that rationality? By
> > injecting it? Lacing it in chocolate bars? Electro-shock therapy?
>
> Hmm, did you really read the above paragraph? I asked how such
> institutions could be created with a minimum of coercion, and you
> immediately suggest chemicals in chocolate and ECT. Don't take this
> wrong, but they seem to be quite a bit coercive.
Sorry, I was trying to be cheeky.
> Besides, any political scheme based on somehow remaking people to
> fit the scheme is 1) bound to fail and 2) bound to hurt a lot of
> people in the process. So my suggestion was to instead of trying to
> get super-rational people we should look at what institutions and
> systems can work well with the usual mix of less-than-rational
> people. No assumptions that the leaders are smarter or better than
> the rest, no assumptions that people are alike.
Mais, non, people are mainly alike - i.e., less-than-rational .... due in
large part to Monsieur Death chasing them down (albeit on the gossamer wings
of angels) and chomping at their heels. Irrationality anestheticizes and
temporarily relieves fear-of-death symptoms (and some forms of depression),
enabling many people simply to function from day to day. Irrationality is
the Great Baby Blankie of Humankind. Getting a chokehold on Death will be
a start in getting people to let go of their blankets, but until that time
there will probably be a serious dearth of rationalists.
> The standard libertarian example of an institution that helps
> less-than-rational people to become more rational in effect is the
> free market, where price information is a kind of rational estimate
> that emerges from many actors. Even if disregard the rationality
> part, it is an interesting distributed resource allocation system.
> But what other examples are there?
Free markets don't hold much fascination for (most) people. What's in it
for them? (that was a rhetorical question). "Give me liberty or give me
death" notwithstanding, most people would much rather give up liberties than
be dead. "Death to death" is what people are interested in (even though
this may not be at the forefront of people's minds, it's always percolating
in the background).
> > Okay, I'm out of my political box for the moment. I would love to get
the
> > latest recipe for Rational Gingerbread Men.
>
> I'm certain the recipe doesn't contain any additives in the
> chocolate :-)
No chocolate at all, in fact - just sugar and spice and everything nice!
(but, come to think of it, that recipe is an old misandrist one for
Gingerbread *Women*) ...:-(
Olga
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