Lets think of it in these terms, Bryan do care
>about the planet 10,000 years from now?
that's an easy one... yes...
>To be fair to Bryan here he is right, he has stated clearly now in his
>last several posts that for him the Earth being sentient is dogma not
>a hypothesis to be tested or even refuted.
i don't know that it's dogma... it's just what i believe... and it's not
that i choose for it not to be tested or refuted... i just don't know that
it can be...
bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, December 11, 1998 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: Is Altruism consistent with environmentalsim?
>---Bryan Hyden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> well, as i've stated before steven, if i were to die tommorro, i am
>still
>> concerned for the welfare of the earth.... i would recieve no benefit
>> whatsoever.... for example, if i was (say) as rich as bill gates
>and knew
>> that i was going to die tommorro (for whatever reason), then perhaps
>i would
>> donate all of my money to some environmental charity (and let's say
>that i
>> would do it annonymously for the sake of the altruism argument)....
>would
>> that not *possibly* be considered to be altruism towards the earth?
>
>Well assuming you had that much money I doubt you could do it
>anonymously. After all there aren't that many who have that kinda
>spare change laying around and a quick head count would reveal the
>donor.
>
>As for it being altruistic? I don't think so. After all your dead so
>there is no benefit or harm or anything else with regards to what you
>might get out of it. Lets think of it in these terms, Bryan do care
>about the planet 10,000 years from now?
>
>> If we assume that self awareness can be extended to
>> >homeostatic systems, then we can fairly say Earth is sentient. But,
>I don't
>> >think we can. I've never had a lot of faith in arguements which
>depend on
>> >changing the definition of words.
>>
>> *i* don't have to change the definition of the word one iota to say
>that i
>> believe the earth is sentient...
>
>To be fair to Bryan here he is right, he has stated clearly now in his
>last several posts that for him the Earth being sentient is dogma not
>a hypothesis to be tested or even refuted.
>
>Steve
>_________________________________________________________
>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|