2006-12-24 13:04:29
| #virus from 2006-12-24 13:00:00 (showing messages 1-30) Bookmark the permanent url.
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13:04:29 | Lucifer | Lucifer has changed the topic on #virus to "Charity" |
13:05:15 | Lucifer | Since it is Newtonmas eve I'd like to discuss charity |
13:05:39 | Lucifer | Is charity rational? Is it good/desirable? |
13:06:15 | Lucifer | When does charity become an obligation? |
13:06:54 | Lucifer | This topic is partially motivated by an article I read recently by Peter Singer |
13:06:58 | Lucifer | wikip: Peter Singer |
13:06:59 | googlebot | looking up Peter Singer |
13:06:59 | googlebot | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer |
13:07:19 | Lucifer | We've discussed Singer before in the context of animal rights and vegetarianism |
13:08:11 | Lucifer | I generally don't agree with Singer but his arguments tend to be thoughtful and rational |
13:08:35 | Lucifer | I confess sometimes I fear he is right and I'm wrong |
13:09:02 | Lucifer | I'll see if I can track down that article... |
13:09:57 | Lucifer | well that was easy, thanks to teh almighty googlebot |
13:10:00 | googlebot | I doubt it |
13:10:03 | Lucifer | http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17charity.t.html?ex=1167022800&en=6a17676a422ccf07&ei=5070&emc=eta1 |
13:10:39 | Lucifer | quite a long article |
13:10:47 | Lucifer | but there is a good thought experiment ... |
13:12:06 | Lucifer | here's an interesting factoid from the article>> "Put them together with Andrew Carnegie, famous for his freethinking, and three of the four greatest American philanthropists have been atheists or agnostics." |
13:12:36 | Lucifer | Gates, Buffet, Carnegie are humanists, the other one is Rockefeller |
13:14:05 | Lucifer | Hmm, that thought experiment must have been in another one of Singer's articles |
13:14:11 | Lucifer | I'll try to recount from memory |
13:14:33 | Lucifer | There's a guy that invests all his savings in a car he has wanted all his life |
13:14:52 | Lucifer | It is his pride and joy, and also his retirement savings |
13:15:20 | Lucifer | One day he is parked near a railway |
13:15:48 | Lucifer | A train is coming and he sees a child on the tracks |
13:16:05 | Lucifer | There is no way he can get to the child fast enough to save it |
13:16:21 | Lucifer | But he can throw a switch and divert the train |
13:16:41 | Lucifer | But diverting the train onto the other track will destroy his car (poor choice of parking location) |
13:16:56 | Lucifer | What should the man do? |
13:17:19 | goomba | seems easy, divert the train |