Hello Gail, thanks for bringing up interesting questions.
> The question then becomes who is acting knowingly at a systems level which > is counterproductive of (let's say), producing human well-being. Don't forget that individuals like Gates, Buffett or Soros are extremely intelligent, experienced and well-informed, and can buy every knowledge / expertise in the world. If they are not knowing what they're doing, who is? They wouldn't have made $billions then. > "Willful ignorance" then becomes the issue in judging predators and also > politicians and even our own daily actions. ... > The concept can be useful not only in respect to personal assessments of > oneself and others but also in the courts where it is a known criterion. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/willful_ignorance willful ignorance (uncountable) 1. (idiomatic, law) A __bad faith__ decision to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt. It may also be shown as for a person to have no clue in a decision but still goes ahead in their decision. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bad_faith bad faith (uncountable) 1. (law) A malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit. This has an effect on the ability to maintain causes of action and obtain legal remedies. 2. (law) Intent to deceive or mislead another to gain some advantage; dishonesty or fraud in a transaction (such as knowingly misrepresenting the quality of something that is being bought or sold). 3. (philosophy) The existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will. ======== Uh-oh, that sounds pretty bad. ;-) (Gates' daddy was a lawyer who even pulled IBM over the table, so he's NOT ignorant of the semantics of this!) > Meanwhile may the charming conversation between Chris and Steve thrive while > the rest of us chime in. If only one of them weren't so right and the other > so wrong! Remind me, which one is whch? <grin> Steve is certain that doom will come, and he even admitted that humans do it. I am not certain that non-Predators can turn the tide, but I say it's possible. So maybe we are both right. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
