From: Chen Yixiong, Eric (cyixiong@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Oct 20 2001 - 08:51:43 MDT
>From RE: (||Universe) Freedom from genes
> Your time is so much better put to use learning about people AS THEY ARE
> and not AS SOME THINK THEY SHOULD BE. These things waste the little time
> you have when you are not doing homework, and they distract you from the
> real job you have to do.
I think I know myself well enough to believe seriously that we can start a rational society. As I mentioned, I don't need everyone
to think the same as me, just a number sufficient to start a society, from a few hundred to perhaps ten thousand.
Meanwhile, psychology and sociology textbooks don't help much, because no one had yet conducted such experiments on the cases that I
propose. Extrapolating behavior from current knowledge would only make the self-fulfilling prophecy come true: If no one believes in
a Rational Society, then it will not exist and we will remain stuck with our current social structures.
Human psychology differs from science. In science, something can happen and we can repeat the same experiment and get the same
results whether we believe a certain hypothesis or not. In the study of the social "sciences", things can happen that we cannot
predict, foresee and evaluate, and sometimes only manifest themselves if the observers, experimenters and those experimented on have
certain belief systems. Thus, what we read and see in real life has only limited value.
I don't believe in what people call "human nature", which exists as an unchanging set of behaviour that humans will always repeat. I
think human behavior goes far more complex. I believe in a value-neutral system which outputs behaviour based on some factors such
as genetic predisposition, previous experiences and current (and even projected future) environmental conditions. Again, I had not
completed this theory so I don't have a complete description of it.
At any one time, a person still retains sufficient ability to deviate from the genetic experiences and learnt experiences, if the
environment allows or encourages it. To prove this hypothesis beyond doubt, a society that provides such an environment must exist,
and some people must join it and also believe that the experiment will work out.
I have the view that the current society does not suit me. If I can't change them and I can't get into an acceptable alternative
one, then I would find it unworthy of my time to live in such a society. I would perhaps live by myself, if "human nature" of a
negative nature does really prevail in our societies.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:11:31 MST