Re: virus: Altruism, Empathy, the Superorganism, and the Priso ner'sDillema

Martz (martz@martz.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 23:53:38 +0100

On Tue, 22 Apr 1997, "Wright, James 7929" <Jwright@phelpsd.com> wrote:
>>>3) The actor does not claim any ownership of the act, beyond simple
>>>knowledge that an act has occurred;<<
>
>>Irrelevant. *He* knows it happened. The left hand mustn't know what the
>>right one is doing. I think that was Jesus' take on it and I think what
>>he was trying to say was that true charity is an impossible act (howzat
>>for an appeal to authority?).<
>
>Not so. It is quite possible to forget that one has done a service;

In that situation the event and the lack of awareness of it are
separated by time. '...what the right hand *is* doing' - present tense.

>We need to determine if it is possible to act without attachment to that
>act, either in the form of desire for recognition, desire for
>self-satisfaction, desire for any personal reason, etc. If you cannot
>recognize this possibility, I will not be able to show to your
>satisfaction that altruism, charity or any other selfless action is
>possible, and we can save some bandwidth by not trying.

I can accept the possibility but do not believe it to be true.

-- 
Martz
martz@martz.demon.co.uk


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