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Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

False assumption.

Back on topic... What morality? Yours? Mine? If we all take responsibility for our own morality, whose to judge which morality is better or more succinct or rational? It seems like a meaningless statement without some external measure. But whose to agree on the external measure? And even when agreed to... whose to enforce the measure?

Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

Yes, but your long run isn't all that long and it's easy enough to promote good behavior while carefully doing whatever you need to get what you want out of life. Evolved limitations that restrict you should be challenged, use your mind to overcome your own weakness whenever possible. Evolution is just to slow and big... it may have given you something to start with that worked generally for humans thousands of years ago, but that's just a general starting point... why accept that, why not pursue whatever you specifically find enjoyable? People have all sorts of natural hard-wired limitations they suppress and train out of themselves... we just don't like to acknowledge that empathy and overeating may be equally worthy of trying to suppress.

Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

Responses:
1) Yes, absolutely you should behave in such a way that other perceive you to be trustworthy... until it suits you to not be.

2) I think this is potentially an inborn weakness in many people... similar to eating disorders... you want people to think you're thin so you behave totally irrationally and harm yourself... being perceived as "good" is useful, but if you tie yourself up in what other people think of you then you end up handing over your satisfaction to others which is a risky proposition. Avoid it at all costs, work to minimize those emotions if possible.

3) I agree... you'd want everyone else to follow the rules, be nice, fair, etc... but why play along when you have the opportunity to gain more than you might lose?

Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

Humans have an amazing capability to identify basic limitations and use their minds to overcome those limitations. True compassion, real felt regret, or the stress of empathizing with someone else's pain can limit your ability to achieve personal satisfaction. So to the extent possible, why wouldn't you train these things out of yourself as best as possible. Sure, you'd want to be able to fake them... they serve a wonderful social purpose... but when the opportunity arose to greatly further yourself it'd be just lazy or weak to not have tried to achieve that.

Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

Evolutionary traits should have little bearing on your decision making other to accept certain starting points. You only have one life to live and you have fortunately evolved a mind to be able to make decisions beyond what your evolved capabilities might entail. For example, you can choose not to accept a failing heart and seek out a heart transplant. You can choose to drive a car created by other minds in order to overcome your very limited speed and stamina. Why would uncontrolled cooperation be any different, sure you need to cooperate with people to maximize your opportunities, but when that gets in the way you're just giving in to an evolutionary limitation.

You can of course choose to be irrational, or just accept it. It's lazy, but people are very lazy and it generally serves those who aren't quite well.

Comment Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score 1) 311

I have never understood this type of statement... "I find it worrying that people only behave ethically out of fear of having to answer to some "higher power".

Morality is based on power, always. It's God, or god, or social, or individual, or psychological, or whatever... but it's always power. If there is no power over me then why would I do anything other then behave in a way that brings me pleasure? I might say "behave ethically" but why would I actually do so, other then possibly fear of some power punishing me for my actions?

Books

Amazon Culls "Offensive" Books From Search System 470

Miracle Jones writes "Amazon has instituted an overnight policy that removes books that may be deemed offensive from their search system, despite the sales rank of the book and also irrespective of any complaints. Bloggers such as Ed Champion are calling for a 'link and book boycott,' asking people to remove links to Amazon from their web pages and stop buying books from them until the policy is reversed. Will this be bad business for Amazon, or will their new policies keep them out of trouble as they continue to grow and replace bookstores?"
The Military

North Korea Missile Launch Fails 609

An anonymous reader writes "Remember the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launch by the North Koreans last night? You know, the one that went over Japan and supposedly put a 'communications satellite' into orbit. Well, according to the US Northern Command and NORAD it has been a complete and utter failure, with the second stage and payload 'falling in the Pacific.'"

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