Re: Real Decisions based on QTI

From: Marchal <marchal.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Wed Jun 30 03:42:00 1999

>[Russell Standish:] I should qualify this by saying that I'm thinking in
terms of
>euthanasia as practised today (ie under the concept that there really
>is death, and that this would end suffering). If, instead, euthanasia
>could be developed so as to produce a positive outcome for the
>"continuation", then this is a different story.

All right.


>[Russell Standish:] There is a very long memory in the world we exist.

> For example, if I
>chose to go around murdering people, I should expect to experience
>many years of confinement, and possibly attempts on my own life, which
>would quite possibly put me in crippled state for a long time, if not
>eternity.

I guess so. And may be there is some justice ... in the limit.

> [Russell Standish:]
>On the other hand, if I go around being nice to others, and being
>generous, then other peoples actions tend to be positive towards
>you.

I hope so.

>[Russell Standish:]
>This "law" goes by many different name - Judeo-Christian ideas of
>justice and the "Golden Rule" of Christianity; the principle of
>humanism; Bhuddist karma and so on. Evolutionary Biologists use this
>principle to explain the existence of altruism in the natural world
>(otherwise altruism is rather hard to explain). Whatever you call it, it is
>roughly true (perhaps in a statistical sense, rather than an absolute
>sense), and the time constant of that memory is at least several
>generations, although presumably one can outlive bad deeds
>eventually. The time constant could not be described as an "instant".

Put in that way, I tend to agree.
May be your view will help to clarify the old platonist relation between
*Truth*
and *Good*.
You know, when I am in an optimistic mood, I like to imagine Truth as
an infinite mountain upon which
every lies will crash sooner ... or later :-)

Cheers

Bruno.
Received on Wed Jun 30 1999 - 03:42:00 PDT