[extropy-chat] Usefulness of Anger and Hate

[Lee Corbin]

Jef writes

> Hate certainly acts to promote solidarity within a specified group, but
> at the same time drawing a sharper line between in-group and out-group.

I understand.

> The hate dynamic tends toward immoral actions because hate motivates
> narrower context decision-making, evaluating consequences over narrower
> scope of possible agents and possible interactions.

Sorry Jef, but this is typical of passages that really aren't clear to
me, and, maybe, to many people. I'm not recommending
anything---just reporting that the clarity doesn't seem to be
what it should be or could be.

You seem to be saying that the "hate dynamic" often results
in immoral actions that would not take place otherwise.  So
you're probably saying that better measured and more fine-tuned
responses would occur in the absence of strong emotion.  Right?

If I've then read you correctly, then yes, greater precision is of course
obtained without the contribution of emotion. But such "bloodless"
decisions also lack clarity of purpose---the most well-known 
controversial example being whether or not a child should be punished
by an adult while the adult is still angry.  One can see both sides
of this question.

Recall the manifold reasons that anger evolved in animals.  I doubt
very much if our ability to abstactly reason completely nullifies the
usefulness of this emotion. Would you like personally to be
rendered incapable of anger?

Lee