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This presupposes there is some way to know what human nature is. The best definition I've ever found is "altruistic and cooperative with an in-group, competiti
by PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
This presupposes there is some way to know what human nature is.
The best definition I've ever found is "altruistic and cooperative with an in-group, competitive and aggressive towards out-groups".
And that doesn't say much at all on this particular point.
- at_a_remove 3y agoThe best one I heard, I am pretty sure was from a Stephen Baxter novel, was our tendency to create valuable "caches" of resources.
- jimbokun 3y ago> This presupposes there is some way to know what human nature is. Empirical observation. Look what happened in all the 20th century communist countries.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y agoEmpirical observation is only a way to determine what is, and not what could be. Since we know that human behavior ("nature") is substantively malleable, we need to know what could be, not merely what is.
- jimbokun 3y agoThat's the problem. It's not ethical to perform experiments on human subjects without their explicit consent. That's why the Institutional Review Board was created: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_review_board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_review_board You can't just perform experiments on large groups of people to see what will happen.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y agoSo in short, neither you nor I know what human nature is, and thus setting up criteria for social organization on whether it aligns with "human nature" is impossible, and a foolish goal.
- vonjuice 3y agoThere is a sort of sleight of hand being performed here. Communism is being blamed for the consequences it has on its own country. Capitalism on the other hand, you can look at and say "look how well it works for this country", because meanwhile it is doing terrible things to other countries.
- kuratkull 3y agoWhat horrible things, to what countries?
- vonjuice 3y agoVietnam? Invading Iraq for oil? The multiple coups in Latin America to establish an authoritarian government? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...