At 5:31 PM +0200 on 7/8/99, M. Uli Kusterer wrote:
>>Alain : If you mean that the altruist is only being altruistic so that
>>he can feel good about himself, I suppose you could be right. But
>>that�s not so bad, is it?
>
> Not necessarily feel good *about oneself*. Rather, you don't like people
>being mad at you, and a friend is always more "convenient" than a foe. Thus
>people, if I may horribly simplify this, are nice to people because they
>want them to be nice to themselves, not because they really care about
>them. (I put it this simple so we don't clobber up the list too much, we
>can discuss this off-list if anyone likes)
Hmmm... no altruism there :) Pure profit motive. Uli, ever written a
philosophy book?
>
>>Alain : A form of altruism nonetheless, despite the eventual benefits
>>to the contributors, because we will all benefit from contributions
>>that are not our own.
>
> Altruism, as I learned it, is doing something solely for the good of
>others, without one's own personal interests. Is this what you described?
That's also the definition the dictionary learned <g>.
>
>>Alain : Except in our case, eh! Because we are the tool-building
>>types. It's what attracted us to software like HyperCard. I see myself
>>as a facilitator that makes the effort to master the technical side of
>>all of these technologies, in order to allow other people
>>(content-providers) to do THEIR thing without being handicapped by the
>>technologies. And I make money doing this. Is this altruism or not?
>
> In my eye, it isn't. This is collaboration, compromise.
Compromise? How? He's writing something and selling it. And I do hope he is
selling it for every last cent he can get out of them :)
>This is everything
>democracy has at its core, it isn't altruism. Democracy, though it profits
>from altruism, doesn't need it.
Nothing profits from altruism except for those who prefer welfare over
work, and even they will eventually loose to the reality of starvation when
no one works for himself, and thus no one produces.
I think chances are now below 40% that we won't start a debate :)
