Re: virus: Altruism, Empathy, the Superorganism, and the Prisoner's Dillema

Drakir (jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com)
Fri, 18 Apr 1997 15:24:21 +0100


Robin Faichney wrote:

> >> "Cooperate, don't defect"
> >
> >You're always going to find people who disagree, possibly quite
> >strongly, with this.
>
> Not very many, if you can really demonstrate its rationality.

How about libitarians? Surely the whole concept of towing the line is
against their principles.

> >> But how can you make such a system stable?
> >
> >Eliminate Greed. It's the only way. How to eliminate greed? I can
> >only think of one way: Eliminate the human race.
>
> All (!) you have to do is show that greed is not really beneficial.

That's like trying to teach people that legal crime doesn't pay! Of
course it does. The demonstration that greed is unnecessary would be so
difficult and so long that I think people would get bored with it.

Can you think of a way to /show/ that greed isn't beneficial.

-- 

Drakir

"We are the New Breed, We are the Future."