RE: virus: Altruism, Empathy, the Superorganism, and the Priso

Corey A. Cook (COOKCORE@esuvm.emporia.edu)
Mon, 21 Apr 97 08:18:40 CT


Mark replied to my endless battery of questions with:
>I think the idea is simply that the concept of altruism is too simplistic
>the way it is usually expressed.

I agree that the concept of altruism is too simplistic, but to state that
our discussion of it 'simply' describes how simple altruism is would be in
itself too simplistic.

>If when I put
>a few dollars in the Salvation Army bucket at Christmastime we wish to
>call it altruism despite the fact that I'm only assuaging my conscience
>and succumbing to the psychological pressure of that damned bell, fine.
>But I think we would be sacrificing accuracy to convenience.

Exactly. The more that we discuss any idea, the more we understand the
concepts attached to it. The more we understand concepts, the more
we understand ourselves.

Corey A. Cook
cookcore@esuvm.emporia.edu

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* The One Universal Truth: *
* Sometimes, you're right. *
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