[extropy-chat] Serenity: "...make people better."

[Russell Wallace]

On 10/16/05, The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> We cannot long continue to wield the power of gods
> whilst maintaining the social sensibilities of monkeys
> without dire consequences befalling us. If being
> called a monkey offends you, take care to not act like
> one.


You're missing the point: I'm not the one you need to worry about offending!
Yes, of course the world would be a better place if we all gave more weight
to reason and less to our social dominance instincts. But calling people
monkeys will not produce that result. If you call people monkeys, they won't
conclude "I guess these guys have a point, we should change our behavior".
They'll conclude "these guys are scum, maybe the people who say we ought to
shut them down have a point".

This isn't rocket science, it's basic psychology, not the sort taught in a
first year college psychology class, but the sort learned in kindergarten.
Seriously, most 6 year olds understand that insulting people makes them
dislike you and not want to do things your way; it should not be beyond the
grasp of the super-geniuses we have on this list. If you still don't believe
me, try it on some normal people face to face and see what result you get.

- Russell
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