X-Message-Number: 30166 From: Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:58:39 EST Subject: "selfishness" & "altruism" There continues to be, even in this venue, a lack of understanding of questions and answers regarding conscious motivation. The Hedonists with their "pleasure principle," and many others from antiquity to the present who have advocated a self centered approach to the problems of life, were basically correct, but were unable to build on their insight, quickly got off track, never became popular, and are now generally regarded as failed. My effort in Youniverse aimed to extend and refurbish the insights of the Hedonists, Epicureans, Utilitarians, Skeptics, Positivists, Pragmatists, and the school of Enlightened Self Interest, as inspired and allowed by recent technological advances. Some would say such an effort is overly ambitious, because too much remains unknown, e.g. the nature of space and time and qualia. Indeed, every conclusion must be tentative, but I believe I have shown the way to considerable improvement, on a probabilistic basis. One of my core theses is that conscious motivation ALWAYS stems from self interest, whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not. To put anything other than self interest first is not only undesirable but physically impossible. By definition, conscious motivation means what moves the self. Every conscious choice you make is based on what YOU want, hence is intended to serve YOUR interests. Confusion arises from several causes. First, some of our wants or needs may be inconsistent with others, but that is merely a complication, not a refutation. Any "sacrifice" can only be that of one want for another, not of yourself for something or someone else. Another confusion arises from the fact that actions or choices do not result only from conscious motivation, but also, for example, from unconscious processes and often from mere habit and sometimes purely by accident. We have the potential ability, at least to some degree, to change our habits and our unconscious responses, but if we only improve our conscious decision processes this opens up enormous room for gain. Another confusion arises from feedbacks, internal and external. When considering consequences, it is easy to overlook or underestimate effects, short or long term. But we have to try, unless we just drift with the current. Now let's look at "selfishness" vs. "altruism." If "selfishness" be taken to mean being self centered on the conscious level, then, as I have said, everyone is purely selfish at all times and in all ways. No exceptions. "True" altruism does not exist and cannot exist. However, there has always been tremendous social pressure favoring "ethical" or "virtuous" behavior, including e.g. demands that soldiers sacrifice their lives for whatever. Many professional advisers, including psychologists and therapists, opine that "value" and "meaning" are to be found primarily in the joy of giving. As usual, this kind of advice has some merit for some people in some situations, in terms of probable internal results, the mental states that are likely to develop. Nevertheless, on balance, I think, most people, most of the time, have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked and suckered into mindless obedience to societal doctrine, at the expense of their own well being if not their very lives. A full-fledged self centered philosophy is certainly too demanding for many people, perhaps for most. They lack both the desire and the competence to examine the foundations of their beliefs and attitudes or habits. But if we can't do everything, we can do something. If you can't take a big bite, at least you can nibble a little. Sometimes that is enough to make a difference. Robert Ettinger **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30166