Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (64428)	10/28/2002 8:54:17 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

"Finally, insofar as we are decent human beings, we cannot be utterly indifferent to the opinions of others, as a means of overcoming our own egoism and examining ourselves....... " What is the means of overcoming egoism and examining our lives? Being attuned to the opinions of others? I can't tell from the way the sentence is written. That "as" doesn't appear to relate to any prestated means. Can you explain your "means" mechanism? Or are you saying if we were indifferent that would be a means for overcoming our egoism and examining ourselves? It kind of reads that way, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't what you meant.

To: Neocon who wrote (64428)	10/28/2002 10:59:32 AM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 82486

Thanks for the as usual thoughtful response. Both by hardwiring and by socialization, there are certain responses that are pretty much guaranteed, especially pre- reflectively. We are certainly brought up this way, and those who continue to live an unexamined life are probably doomed to such responses. But IMO those who have carefully examined their lives, have decided that they are indeed "tme masters of their souls," and have developed self discipline, are able to look at external stimuli--other than immediate physical surprise threats which invoke a visceral flight-or-fight response--objectively, and overcome any socialized or hardwired responses. I thought about this as I watched some football yesterday. Here are men who are trained in a life of physical violence. Especially on the line, they get hit, punched, kicked, and as soon as the whistle blows, it stops. Except for the few personal fouls called in a game, they have absolute control over their responses. And as soon as ghe game ends, no matter how violently they have fought during the game, they come out and chat with each other and meet with warm friendship old friends they have been bashing on for the past three hours. If someone came up to me on the street and violently shoved me, I'm sure I would have a societal and hardwired response to hit back. But this has been trained out of these men, so that they have learned a different set of rules. So, I think, in the intellectual world we are able to train ourselves in a different set of rules. Indeed, the seminar room was excellent training for this. Certainly, as there are personal fouls in football, there are times in the 3d or SI worlds when we revert to instinctive responses. But I see those as steps backward, not forward, even when I myself revert to them. I have no intention of allowing other people to control my responses. I have no intention of giving them that sort of power over me. some of us have invested a considerable amount in SI, therefore it does matter to us what our reputations are here. I'll accept that for the sake of argument, though for me my reputation isn't general but specific--that is, each person forms their own opinion, rather than there being a general reputation (at law, the term reputation refers to a generally accepted community reputation.) But even so, if somebody here decides you're a dork, or a flake, I don't really see that there's all that much you can do about it. some of us have a spill- over potential Presumably, only those you have chosen to spill over with. whatever venue one is in, it is always a sort of quiz for the wider world, and how one will fare. I don't agree with that. Just as football players can be very gentle in their 3d lives and very violent on the football field, I think we here on SI can play this game in totally different ways than we live in 3d. For one example, I doubt that jla has ever gotten into in his real life the sort of exchanges he routinely gets into with X. If that's a reflection of how he normally treats other people, it's no wonder he has so much time to spend on SI, becasue for sure he wouldn't have any clients. I can't imagine Solon have any friends who would put up with the endless discourses he routinely tosses out here. And I seriously doubt that Poet in her 3d life, over the dinner table or out with her friends, is the same potty mouthed person she is here. Now in some cases I suspect that the SI persona is closer to the 3d person. Though even in your case, I doubt that your 3d interactions are quite as pedantic as your SI interactions can get. Karen may be the closest I can think of to a person whose 3d personality I can imagine matching her SI personality. But in general, I don't think SI is at all an accurate quiz for how we fare in the wider world.