Okay. I was interested in why so many of the people - us - are prepared to follow the leaders of such a movement. Presumably, not because each of the ...
Oligarchies, yes; I should have thought of that option. But military dictatorships still have a chain of command, just like monarchies, even if the tu...
Don't know what happened here, but I'm not one to waste a free reply box. Here is another aspect of story-telling, in all formats. We need our ideas a...
I've been a tv watcher since age 10, when I first saw a tv. By watcher, I mean close observer, commentator, critic and chronicler, and well as appreci...
It's both. But I do have a problem with the phrase 'naturally gravitate'. I do think social animals evolved an advantage in designating leaders and in...
Show me three dictatorships without individual, identifiable dictators having hijacked a system that was originally intended for the common good. I do...
It's not smuggled in. It's right out ion the open. The kind of actions for which we seek justification are the ones we consider wrong, exceptional, pe...
Yes, that's a useful function, actually. I've participated in any number of discussions started by a movie: "What would you do in that situation?" or ...
Huh? Extra beyond what basic standard of burden? There is a reason for everything that happens or is done in the world, even if we don't know all the ...
What makes you think you've upset me? This subject doesn't come anywhere close to raising that kind of emotional response. I serenely and respectfully...
No, it's something you do because otherwise you'd soil your nightclothes. Bodies have imperatives that cannot be denied. Maybe you can. At my age, whe...
real world conflict is the life blood of news media. The rest of us need to know what's going on in the world that affects us, and if we are entertain...
When one doesn't believe an afterlife, that's pretty much all there is. Why would you spend all this potentially wonderful time preparing for oblivion...
It's not fear; it's greed. I like sunshine and trees, music and beer, being able to walk and see and taste and hear; I like affection, pleasant sensat...
There is usually a mechanism for dealing with disputes, so that it doesn't come to a fight that would physically damage valuable members of the group....
Because it's a huge waste of time. If you want to win at a sport, or succeed in business or master a craft or become expert in a field of study, you h...
I don't think it is different in kind, though we do a lot more of it, for a lot more diverse goals. Only in the diversity. We need things, want things...
Very interesting - and I think, true. But incomplete, because no intelligent animals lives entirely by instinct: they also think and learn and decide....
I don't think the concept of 'rights' in some form can be removed from a society - of any kind: all social animals have this idea embedded in their or...
That is a really good question! I'm inclined to think that there is a chain that can be cut at any point, by intervening reality. What we can imagine,...
I'm not sure that applies to war - excerpt class war, of course. But I think this is a useful way to look at the situation, and I generally agree. I w...
Yes, from the top down, as I said. If the pope or synod or whoever the authority is, hands down a ruling that pork is all right to eat after all, witc...
I very much doubt that. If it didn't set out moral precepts, what good would a religion be? I believe that many religious people can discuss a wide ra...
Yes. My first criterion for ethical behaviour is motive. Not what did he take, or how much, but why did he take it? A homeless person taking an apple ...
As long as the moral code is restricted to a very narrow range of behaviours, I can see all rational people agreeing. Don't murder, steal, have sex wi...
No, that's the simplistic retributive 'solution' - though it's unclear here, what problem needs solving. A human has made very bad choices in one life...
No. I think the universe is unaware of my existence, but if anything - fate, fortune, the spirit world - does know about me, it has been benevolent. D...
Ethics is not about cost; it's about intent. Was it a conspiracy? Did each thief know that the ultimate aim was to bankrupt the company? The legal ind...
Only, there is no difference. I see no justification for capitalizing the name of one species, as it were somehow to be lifted out of nature. Man has,...
Of course I can find many examples of abuses, and a few of balanced judgment. Darwin himself didn't mix in with any of of the extreme views. He did me...
To science! Not to the political world - either then or now. People have abused his work, dragged his name through all kinds of muck and tattered his ...
It's a slogan. For king and country! "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité". Workers of the World, Unite. Allahu Akbar. MAGA. Because I'm Worth It. This one p...
What about the theory? I think it works pretty well, even today. It was certainly a solid foundation for the new branch of scientific study that Darwi...
I used to think it meant something like "the best fit" meaning, most closely adapted to its environment. But with humans, even that doesn't work, sinc...
Fitness is a very poor choice of word to apply to humans, let alone human social organization. It has too many meanings and potential applications. A ...
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