X-Message-Number: 30775 From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: Re: self interest Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 15:16:28 +0200 References: <> On 26 May 2008, at 17:08, wrote: > It is logically and physically impossible to > be motivated by anything other than self interest. > > Failure to understand this is one of the major psychological > obstacles to > cryonics. Within psychology, certainly social psychology, the recognition of the group as an independent entity, that is, as an emergent property of the assembly of individuals, has always been recognized. The idea that group behavior is just the sum of individuals' behavior has repeatedly proven to be inadequate. In evolutionary theory, there was an attempt in the 1970-80s to explain away group evolution via kinship (shared genes). This has also been shown to be inadequate. Now evolution is thought to occur on the cellular, bodily, group, and ecosystem levels. In the book "Unto Others", the example of a worm, which sacrifices its life for the good of its fellows, is given. The above argument is that the human, by definition, is not capable of such behavior. Within economic theory, particularly behavioral- and neuro-economics, the realization that the traditional 'economic man', motivated only by self interest, is no longer a tenable model is becoming dominant. Now we can see that there are brain structures that respond to inequity and to the 'common good'. These are independent sources of reward and motivation, beyond self interest: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428094212.htm > the research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, > shows that most of us will act in the best interest of our team -- > often at our own expense. Definitions are arbitrary. However, if you define 'self interest' such that it permits people to act in a way that is detrimental to them, it isn't particularly useful. If you define it any other way, then you are in contradiction to the behavioral and brain data. The continued retaining of this view is equivalent to a religious conviction, at this point. It is the theology of neo-liberalism. Economism is a major threat to cryonics, since it promotes a distribution of wealth that makes suspension impossible for the vast majority of the world's population, thus destroying most of the potential market. I discuss Economism in an earlier message. As I have shown in my reanalysis of the Badger data, the major psychological obstacle to cryonics among individuals is religious belief. Within the cryonics movement, the major psychological obstacle is the individualism, we see expressed here, that maintains a marketing strategy that is ineffective. This conclusion is supported by the research on longevity attitudes and on attitudes toward nanotechnology. All evidence points to a general mental mechanism that makes cultural background (group identity) a determinant of reactions to new technologies. dss David Stodolsky Skype: davidstodolsky Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30775