Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 01:21:03 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org> Cc: "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <3D707C6F.7C9AD09C@mindspring.com> References: <200208310617.g7V6Hu128152@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org>
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Dave Hayes wrote: > I claim you should not worry about what others do, your focus should > be on what YOU do, and that will maximize gain for you and (somewhat) > society. You appear to claim that we have to focus on what OTHERS do > and controlling them achieves more gain for you and society. How can individuals cooperate to achieve common goals, if everyone acts as you would have them act? By what system? > > My own objection to this is, first and foremost, that the rights > > of the state take precedence of the rights of the individual, as > > the state is composed of individuals, and the yardstick we must > > therefore use is that of the greatest good for the greatest number. > > I claim you can't know that yardstick. Then allow me to operate on the principle of successive approximation, and, when or if you come up with a better yardstick, I can siwthc to using it instead. > It wasn't intended to succeed or fail, actually. It was intended to > demonstrate. What I failed to realize was that, for a demonstration to > be effective, it must fall on fertile eyes and ears. In order for a system top operate indefinitely, it must achieve homeostasis. It's impossible to design a system that can do this, yet which has no feedback mechanisms. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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