From: John Marlow (johnmarlow@gmx.net)
Date: Sat Apr 21 2001 - 20:55:27 MDT
##
On 21 Apr 2001, at 21:50, Bryan Moss wrote:
> John Marlow wrote:
>
> > Morality seems to be a human construct; certainly not
> > inherent in the universe, which clearly couldn't care less.
>
> I think morality is (kind of) inherent in the Universe. If
> you expand the Universe to encompass logic (perhaps thinking
> of the physical universe as a subset of this) and consider the
> difficultly of rationalising irrationalism, you'd probably
> find yourself at least entertaining the notion that
> rationalism is (axiomatically) Good and therefore Thinking
> Machinery, such as ourselves, is also Good and destroying
> Thinking Machinery is generally Bad.
##Well now, in general I of course agree--but it all depends upon
just what that TM is thinking and doing about those thoughts. (See
The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day.)
>
> > ... I'd argue that it is perfectly rational to conclude that
> > such behavior is unacceptable, dangerous to society, and not
> > to be tolerated. ...
>
> Of course, the simple explanation is that morality has been
> selected for, but that's not much of a justification.
##Possible; too little evidence!!
>
> > ... There is also some indication that those who feel no
> > compassion toward animals feel none toward people, and are
> > likely to treat both the same. ...
>
> Alternatively, consider that some animal rights activists may
> be suffering from social dysfunctions that result in them not
> seeing the differences between animal and human societies that
> are obvious to the majority of people.
##On the other hand, some of them are just flat-out wacko.
jm
>
> BM
>
John Marlow
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