Re: absolute morality? ha! free will? pnyah!

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Rob Harris wrote:

> Our base motivations are ... strictly defined and completely invariable.
> Any action we devise to fulfil these goals, is just that - an intelligent
> system devising a method of achieving the strictly defined goals.

Some things to think about:

[1] Resolution of conflicts between "base motivations" (e.g. protective-

vs. self-preservation, cooperation vs. competition, etc.).

[2] Motivational Hierarchies -- dominance and recession, rank-order

(prioritization) etc.

[3] The self-destruction of intelligent systems.

[4] Hypertrophication of a "base-motivation" (e.g. bulimia) or its

atrophication (e.g. anorexia nervosa).

[5] The invariability of "base motivations" seems to imply the

     termination of evolutionary process in the species concerned;
     why evolve from unicellular morphology to multicellular? Why
     experiment with other than asexual reproduction?



[6] Are the "strictly defined goals" of a mushroom any different

     than those of a flatworm, and if so, how and why?



[7] Was there a primordial "base motivation" to evolve an "intelligent

     system" for implementing the reduction of "strictly defined" needs?

     OR: how would you describe the "intelligent system" used by used
     by a bacterium to achieve its "strictly defined goals"? "It doesn't
     have a central nervous system, so how can it have one?"  Then
     how did we get one?  Not because we needed to! Think about it.

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• [ Next ][ Previous ] In reply to: Rob Harris