[ExI] People are Genuine Altruists, Sociopaths, or Confused/Moody

[Lee Corbin]

Harvey writes

>>>> Well, I don't think so.  And so why don't you just wait for the
>>>> "big moment", and be unafraid of answering my little admissions?
>>
>> Here, yes, indeed I was suggesting that you be unafraid, yes, implying
>> that perhaps you were at the moment afraid.
> 
> Yes.  And more than that, you keep wasting my time by goading me into 
> waiting for some "big moment".

All in your mind.

> Maybe the joke's on me.  But I'm beginning to "conjecture" that there is
> no big moment.  "It's as though" you are just stringing me along to see
> how long you can keep me in a conversation that never actually goes anywhere.

I'm interested now, just as I was interested then, in finding out
the truth. I'm sorry if my questions make you uncomfortable.
Often, it really is the case that I just want to know (though,
yes, often I ask with an air of incredulity).

> "You seem" to be doing this on purpose.  You 
> really are an asshole, "eh?"

Not at all. Not by the normal meaning of the term. I wasn't doing this
to annoy or insult you. I want to understand why you think that you 
do certain actions, like leave tips in restaurants you'll never visit again
(and, by the way, your list in one of your last emails, I forgot to mention,
was very helpful---though I'm still standing by my claim that either you
are doing what you do for selfish reasons, self-interested reasons, or
you are not; and if not, then you really are a genuine altruist).

And I'm not about to flare into outrage or anger at your cute little
question "You really are an asshole, eh?".

> I'm going to stick you in my kill file.  That way I don't have to see your 
> "conjectures" that I am too afraid to argue with you, and mistake those for 
> actual claims or statements that I should respond to.

Yes, that's what I expect from certain people. Better, they think, just to turn away.

Just *who* have you ever argued with, I wonder, that sooner or later didn't end
up in your kill file, for it's hard for me to imagine you having a protracted exchange
with anyone that doesn't end venomously.

Lee