> Anders Sandberg thinks:... it is important to make a distinction between the
> desire for
> having something good that somebody else possess and the desire to
> remove the thing from his possession. ...(Hmm, what are the proper english words
> for these two states? In Swedish it is likely "avund" and "missunsamhet" - trust
> the Swedes to
> have subtle nuances for envy :-)
There is a great misuderstanding of the word "covet" and "covetousness" as in the last of the Judeo-Christian ten commandments. [In fact there are 11 of them there, count them. Tradition has been so eager to make it 10, the Catholics have combined the first two and the protestants the last two... {8^D but I digress.]
In a zero sum game like the ancient farming culture, it makes sense to forbid coveting your neighbor's stuff. But today, in our manufacturing/information
based economy, why not covet? Even more so, in our future nanotech world, where manufacturing becomes ever easier and cheaper, why not covet? Covet away. avund and missunsamhet are not only harmless, they are *required* for a healthy information/nanotech capable economy.