[ExI] list intimidation

[efc at swisscows.email]

On Thu, 13 Apr 2023, spike jones via extropy-chat wrote:

>> ...My father is of the social, nodding and smiling type, and when someone in his community doesn't reciprocate, he nods and smiles even more vigorously until the other caves in and realizes that it is the quickest way to get rid of him. ;)  Daniel
>
> Ah, so THAT's why my neighbors seem so pleasant.

There you go! ;)

> OK cool.  Daniel your father and I would get along well.  Scheming pleasant ways to get rid of each other.

Haha, true. After all, he (and I) are swedish, possibly among one of the
most "distant" cultures on the planet. ;)

> Thanks for the insightful commentary: it's been a mind opener.  I didn't participate directly in the qualia discussion, but that too is a terrific learning experience.  It's the kinda thing that has kept me hanging out here for nearly three decades.
>

I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised at the wonderful mix of
people and perspectives on this list, and, at the civilised tone
compared with twitter, mastodon and other modern social media. But maybe
I haven't yet seen the worst?

> Fun parting thought: if a person artificially acts pleasant long enough and consistently enough, can that cause one to become an actual pleasant person?
>

I'd say that depends on your ethics. If you're consequentialist, the
yes, if you lean towards deontological ethics, then maybe no. ;) But for
day to day use, disregarding philosophers, I would say "yes". =)

Best regards, 
Daniel