[extropy-chat] Death Toll

[Dirk Bruere]

Jeff Davis wrote:

>--- Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>At 08:52 PM 7/10/2005 -0400, Dan wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Why are we more upset by the loss of lives in
>>>      
>>>
>>London than by the loss of 
>>    
>>
>>>lives in Iraq?
>>>      
>>>
>>Because we are tribal animals.
>>
>>If 50 Iraqi scientists were being `executed' by
>>fanatics every day or week, 
>>I think we'd* be more angstish.
>>
>>*those on this list
>>    
>>
> 
>Succinctly put.  Tells the whole story.  Tribalism is
>all.  The Rosetta stone of human behavior.  Axiom One.
>
>Us vs the Other trumps all.  It trumps Truth vs Myth
>(when the truth speaks against the interest of the
>tribe, truth is discarded and replaced by a
>self-serving myth), it trumps lawful vs criminal, and
>without missing a beat, it trumps right vs wrong.
>
>The only thing it cannot trump is the up close and
>personal, kiss-your-sorry-ass-goodbye prospect of
>imminent annhilation.
>
>Training oneself to escape the instinct-mediated
>"trap" of tribal loyalty is arguably Transhuman
>Enhancement One.
>
>  
>
IMO less to do with 'instinct' and more to do with defending those who 
share common values.
Transhumanists, and indeed PostHumans will not 'escape' this tribalism 
and survive.

-- 
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org



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