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You can spin almost anything into a positive light. Like, "hey I know I killed you, but you know what, this is just a horrible world that you are better off dea

You can spin almost anything into a positive light. Like, "hey I know I killed you, but you know what, this is just a horrible world that you are better off death". I wonder if Hitler was a psychopath, he may have been. <sarcasm> He certainly made the world go round, fighting him lit a fire under all the western nations which in turn allowed us to make great advances in rocketry, nuclear power, and god knows what. Sure, he killed millions of innocent people but you know what, at least he did make the world go round. Even Germany benefited immensely, it emerged as a world economic power. Thank god for psychopaths, what would we do without them. </sarcasm>

FrojoS 15y ago
Exactly. But though you emphasize it with <sarcasm> it still might contain a lot of truth [1]. Its known as the "Mephisto Principle": Mephisto: "I am a part of that power, that constantly wants to do harm and constantly creates the good." (Goethe, Faust 1) [2] As an example, let's assume that, soon, human race has to become interplanetary in order to survive. Now, are we more likely to get there with threat of inter-human war and large defense funding? Perhaps. Until recently, I used to call DARPA money "dirty" and insulted many fellow students this way. But I'm starting to realize this might be naive. Without DARPA Net I might not be able to have this discussion here. [1] If I had the choice I would go back in time and prevent it. But that would still be a difficult decision. I guess this play of thought does not not lead to anything useful. A more useful question might be: Would you like to prevent a future world war. Sure! [2] http://www.maxeiner-miersch.de/mephisto_e.htm http://www.maxeiner-miersch.de/mephisto_e.htm
turbojerry 15y ago
That reminds me of the Cuckoo speech from The Third Man- You know what the fellow said in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man#The_.22Swiss_cuckoo_clock.22_speech http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man#The_.22Swiss_cuck...

FrojoS 15y ago

Exactly. But though you emphasize it with <sarcasm> it still might contain a lot of truth [1]. Its known as the "Mephisto Principle": Mephisto: "I am a part of that power, that constantly wants to do harm and constantly creates the good." (Goethe, Faust 1) [2] As an example, let's assume that, soon, human race has to become interplanetary in order to survive. Now, are we more likely to get there with threat of inter-human war and large defense funding? Perhaps. Until recently, I used to call DARPA money "dirty" and insulted many fellow students this way. But I'm starting to realize this might be naive. Without DARPA Net I might not be able to have this discussion here. [1] If I had the choice I would go back in time and prevent it. But that would still be a difficult decision. I guess this play of thought does not not lead to anything useful. A more useful question might be: Would you like to prevent a future world war. Sure! [2] http://www.maxeiner-miersch.de/mephisto_e.htm http://www.maxeiner-miersch.de/mephisto_e.htm

turbojerry 15y ago

That reminds me of the Cuckoo speech from The Third Man- You know what the fellow said in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man#The_.22Swiss_cuckoo_clock.22_speech http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man#The_.22Swiss_cuck...