[Kevin] Yes. But unlike a seed most people are capable of choosing their response to their environment. The transformation of Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one example of a person who chose to act responsibly.
[Case] The environment of a human nugget of probability is geometrically more complex than a seed's and yet the same rules apply. "It too dies or thrives based on the environment into which it falls." [Kevin] Yes. And he's asking us which person do we intend to be. [Case] I think he is asking a more difficult question about who we are. [Kevin] And I would respectfully disagree. Rationality is good. But when elevated above other sources of truth it will become a source of evil. Ask Scrooge. [Case] Rationality resides in the newest portions of the human brain. You can see a rough evolutionary outline of its development in modern primates. We do not know what function it served in proto humans but it is the expansion and expression of this function that has driven human advancement to this day. We have expanded the reach of human rationality into the heavens, with rockets and satellites. We have coded human consciousness into electromagnetic radiation and hurled it into the cosmos. We speak to each other with Star Trek communicators. If we turn this higher consciousness to petty or hurtful use, it is hard to see how rationality is at fault. Does rationality favor greed? Does rationality call for intolerance? Does rationality damn the Other as infidel? What evil does rationality endorse? I'd rather ask Bob Cratchit. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
