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I'm going to use your comment to go on a bit of a rant. What is the purpose of your comment? Like, really. What are you trying to attain by stating what you did

by exergy 9y ago

I'm going to use your comment to go on a bit of a rant. What is the purpose of your comment? Like, really. What are you trying to attain by stating what you did? Your comment is pedantic and completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. Derisive thing to say, perhaps, but this is classic HN. Miss the big picture for a useless little nugget that is of zero consequence. For the current case, for example, a certain amount of a lot of those supposed "vices" that you listed are healthy. Greed and jealousy make you strive, ignorance give you peace of mind, rage is cathartic. So, OK, I'm guessing we both agree that there should be limits on such things. Scientology, bad. Cult involving biking to work, good. "A very convenient one for him here". Huh? Your comment just seems to be a portal into a conversation involving endless squabling about a topic that has nothing to do with MMM.

Angostura 9y ago
> Cult involving biking to work, good. Just to be clear, in case you;re confused. Biking to work doesn't involve you being forced to cut off ties and communication with family and friends who don't bike. Neither does it require you to hand over a large proportion of your income to a church.
wpietri 9y ago
I am mainly trying to point out a common and dangerous philosophical error. Arguing for creating a cult because it is beneficial on its own is reasonable (although I'd argue it's wrongheaded). Arguing for it on the basis of it being natural is wrong. All sorts of terrible things have been justified this way. Slavery, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech And when you say "vices" I'm not sure who you're quoting, but it's not me. Those are just natural features of the human organism. My point is exactly that they're not intrinsically good or bad. It's in how we structure our society to use them.

by exergy 9y ago

Angostura 9y ago

> Cult involving biking to work, good. Just to be clear, in case you;re confused. Biking to work doesn't involve you being forced to cut off ties and communication with family and friends who don't bike. Neither does it require you to hand over a large proportion of your income to a church.

wpietri 9y ago

I am mainly trying to point out a common and dangerous philosophical error. Arguing for creating a cult because it is beneficial on its own is reasonable (although I'd argue it's wrongheaded). Arguing for it on the basis of it being natural is wrong. All sorts of terrible things have been justified this way. Slavery, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech And when you say "vices" I'm not sure who you're quoting, but it's not me. Those are just natural features of the human organism. My point is exactly that they're not intrinsically good or bad. It's in how we structure our society to use them.