From: Mark Steven Heyman (MarkHeyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Fri Apr 22 2005 - 04:44:00 BST
On 21 Apr 2005 at 16:52, hampday@earthlink.net wrote:
joe said to ham:
Through history there has been an oddity on this planet: individuals of the highest
evolved species kill each other on a massive scale. IMO this defeats continued
evolution by destroying many fine things that had already been achieved.
Some very fine people have tried to elucidate ways of behavior that would
eliminate this problem e.g., Buddha, Moses, Astrology from India and
Greece, Jesus, Mohammed, Lama are the most recognized.
ham said to joe:
I don't know exactly what point you're trying to make here, Joe. If it's
that the "rational" creature sometimes behaves "irrationally", you'll get no
disagreement from me. Keep in mind, however, that if it were not for this
irascible creature's ability to reason, we would not have the means to print
books, fly airplanes, cure syphilis, predict hurricanes, or communicate on
the Internet.
On balance, I'd say the positives outweigh the negatives, wouldn't you?
msh says:
The point is that your rational creatures are not all that rational,
and far far from the exalted status you would like to grant them.
And whether or not "the positives outweigh the negatives" sort of
depends on which pan of the scale you occupy. If you by chance are
born to the team holding the upper hand in violence, and you are
sufficiently egocentric, things might seem just peachy. It is
precisely this incredible self-centeredness, and apparent
obliviousness to the plight of others, that makes your Essentialism
(as well as Rand's Objectivism) most unpalatable to anyone with even
a shred of a sense of our common humanity.
Thanks,
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
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