From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Sep 09 2003 - 02:13:14 MDT
On Monday 08 September 2003 15:18, Randy S wrote:
> Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> said:
> > Apropos some of our earlier discussions, here is a good essay by David
> > Brin. Replace "libertarian" with "transhumanist" and you get a powerful
> > exhortation:
> >
> > http://www.techcentralstation.com/102802A.html
> >
> > (long version at http://www.davidbrin.com/libertarianarticle1.html)
>
> Brin write:
>
> "The fundamental premise of classical liberalism is an assumption that
> people are basically rational and wise.
>
>
Actually, original "liberalism" is built on the assumption that you can so
limit the legalized power of others over yourself as to not need to worry
overly much about how rational or wise others are.
> Actually, I agree with Brin in many respects. I think that people of
> certain cultures, operating within their cultures, do operate wisely and
> rationally-- to a certain degree (see, for example, religion, as an area
> where they do not operate rationally, to a great extent).
>
> But I do not think people in all cultures operate wisely and rationally.
> Cultures endorse behavior, and some cultures are not very rational.
> Therfore, some cultures do not operate very well at all. For example, I do
> not think there are any rational cultures in Africa, as far as I can tell.
Classical liberalism is not concerned with "cultures" or any other collective.
It is concerned with individuals and keeping them free to follow their own
designs.
- samantha
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