guido@twitch.UUCP ( G.Bertocci) (07/24/85)
> > How about the principle that you gain more for a longer period of time by > > cooperation with others than by "improving you position at the expense of > > others", incurring their wrath and prompting any person or group of persons > > to act against you (through violence, revenge, blockade, etc.) It is in > > your interest to cooperate with those around you. [Rosen] > > I will look from a different perspective at the question wherewith I started > this discussion: If you are nothing but matter, how can there be a "you" in > whose interest cooperation is? Your model of human nature (100% biochemistry) > seems inconsistent with the fact that we are having this discussion at all -- > or how do you think we happen to be alive, conscious, and intelligent? The > idea that these somehow came/come out of inanimate matter (which you implicitly > ASS-U-ME) is infinitely more implausible -- indeed, preposterous -- than the > idea that they were put there by a Designer. [Sargent] One does not need religion or morality to accept the idea that cooperation is beneficial. The animal kingdom is full of examples from apes on down where cooperation is exhibited among the same or even different species. Moreover, other animals exhibit symptons of being alive, conscious, and intelligent. And I don't think that anyone is arguing that other animals cooperate because they are religious or moral. I've had this discussion many times with my friends. I help others, cooperate, am relatively honest :-), in other words, exhibit what are considered to be moral characteristics, yet none of my friends would ever accuse me of being religious. I do it simply because I prefer it, it makes me feel good, and very often my friends return the help. It's also a lot easier to act this way than it is to be constantly antagonistic. I think Lebanon is a prime example of the difficulties of surviving without cooperation. There the problem doesn't seem to be the lack of religion, but rather an overabundance of religion. -- Guido Bertocci AT&T Bell Labs Holmdel, NJ ...!ihnp4!houxm!twitch!guido