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Jef Allbright wrote:<br>
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cite="midB99F3B28ADD2C141B737D735CE9156C30237962B@EXVBE012-4.exch012.intermedia.net">
<pre wrap="">Thomas wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Perhaps you could comment on a personal
problem: I was once told by a Rational
Emotive therapist that I held an irrational
belief that was causing me problems. It
was the golden rule. Do "effective
interaction" and "cultivating a cooperative
environment" imply a need for empathy
and/or a ban on aggression?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
What a powerful question! I assume you are referring to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
The short answer is that following the Golden Rule is not rational, in the same narrow sense that altruism is not rational.
You can easily see this if you consider in terms of game theory, where for each play you must cooperate, but the other player may sometimes cooperate and sometimes defect, tending to your net detriment. Note that as traditionally stated, the Golden Rule is not a positive-sum game. The best you can do is to receive as good as you gave.
But, decisions, actions and consequences in real life are never actually contained within an isolated context, and this makes all the difference in the world.
Real life is, for all practical purposes, a positive-sum game where the subjective context of decision-making and the objective scope of interaction both tend to increase. So the name of the game is Growth, and any longer-term winning strategy involves effectively discovering and exploiting synergies.
Regarding "empathy":
As this game of Growth is all about effective interaction over increasing scope between Self and Other (the adjacent possible), "empathy" is important in the broad sense of deeply understanding Other, but not necessarily in the narrower popular sense of feeling the other's emotions. In the environment of evolutionary adaptation, empathy as mirrored feelings was a useful adaptation, just as instinctive feelings of fear of outsiders was a useful adaptation, but in the expanded context of contemporary decision-making we require awareness broader than our instinctive feelings.
Regarding "ban on aggression":
As morality is all about promoting one's increasingly shared values over increasing scope, there is a moral imperative to defend one's interests. Further, since all decision-making is necessarily within a subjective context, disputes between agents will arise, and resolution will involve one party "winning" and other party "losing" in the near term. However, when conducted rationally, such conflict actually strengthens the broader system within which all the parties interact. When conducted irrationally, conflict can unreasonable damage and destroy Other resulting in detriment to the larger system. So "aggression" is to some extent an inherent part of the process, and moral to the extent that it promotes *increasingly shared* values over *increasing scope*. Careful reading of the above should reassure those who on first glance might take it as justifying wanton destruction of one's opponent or justifying "might makes right". It most certainly does not. As an aside, I very!
much appreciate the Japanese word for opponent, $BAj<j(B , "aite" in roman characters, which has all the following connotations: partner, companion, competitor, opponent, rival.
</pre>
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<pre wrap="">Is the golden rule consistent with
a rational society or a free market?
</pre>
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<pre wrap=""><!---->
>From the foregoing, I think you can see that the Golden Rule, when understood in the broader sense of ethical reciprocity within a positive sum game of increasingly shared values that work over increasing scope, is consistent with a rational society and a free market.
- Jef</pre>
</blockquote>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Thank you for an illuminating and
fairly comprehensive response. <br>
I wonder how an extropic Golden Rule would read. I think its essence is
equal justice. <br>
<br>
What little I know of systems theory seems to favor sacrificing smaller systems
(individuals) to the good of larger systems. As an individual I'm interested
in avoiding the "tyranny of the majority" and in contributing to an expanding
"cooperative environment." The break point between these two goals seems
to be the willingness to use coercion. I've been struggling to conceive
a society of unanimous spheres wherein each individual can fully identify
with the larger sphere-system and where the variety of spheres could interact
sans coercion. Paul Wafker's <a
href="http://morelife.org/ssip/solutions/NSC.html">Natural Social Contract</a>
is an example of a tool that might help establish safe social spheres. I
like the idea of citizenship by agreement rather than by default.<br>
<br>
I think I would like to live in a sphere with no collective property title
and, thus, no public treasury, no corporate veil nor community property disputes.
Our brainstems' territorial impulses might be muted to a sub violent level
when each of us is solely responsible (and liable) for what we have and what
we do with it. I've moved in this direction in my personal life and thereby
distanced myself from some infantile impulses (mine and others'). Now, how
do I expand the scope of my interactions in a sphere that seems to oscillate
between altruism and solipsism with little in between? -- Thomas<br>
<br>
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