Altruism (was Re: Immortality and Personal Finance)

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Thu Apr 25 2002 - 11:16:23 MDT


>> (Dave Sill)
>> If altruism wasn't one of J R Molloy's useless hypotheses, it should
>> have been. All motivation is ultimately selfish. Caring more about the
>> welfare of others is irrational, if not insane.

> (Eliezer Yudkowsky)
> If you were really a selfish rationalist, you would cleverly remain silent
> and let altruistic memes propagate, thus maximizing the number of people
> working to your benefit. You certainly would not feel the need to argue the
> morality of selfishness in public forums. Say what you like about rational
> selfishness; it can't consistently propagate itself as a meme.

Oh, poppycock. My selfish interests are better served /in the long
run/ by others acting in their own self-interest. It makes them
simpler to deal with; more predictable. It makes them build the economy,
innovate, and create. It creates greater opportunities for trade.
It minimizes the time I have to spend fighting altruistic legislators.

I am selfish, but I don't want your charity--I want your trade.

-- 
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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