From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Sun Jul 06 2008 - 11:22:04 MDT
On Saturday 05 July 2008 11:34:18 pm Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> 2008/7/6 Charles Hixson <charleshixsn@earthlink.net>:
> > The thing is, just because YOU can see that someone is thinking
> > incorrectly doesn't mean that THEY will see the same thing. Perhaps they
> > will. I can tell that I need to lose weight, and so I must be thinking
> > incorrectly about food, at least some of the time. Don't seem to be able
> > to do anything about it. But if I could, and it was reasonably easy, I
> > would. But an anorexic doesn't see that they have invalid values.
> > Sometimes it's possible to teach them that they do, but they actually see
> > themselves as fat while starving to death, so they don't WANT to change
> > their minds.
>
> Some anorexics can see that they are thinking irrationally, at least
> some of the time. The same goes for those who are addicted to
> substances, gambling, have anger management problems, and so on.
> Rationalisation and denial come into play because there seems to be no
> easy solution. Even many psychotic people who end up being treated
> involuntarily have partial insight into their condition. So although
> there may always be a hard core who choose to remain antisocial or
> self-destructive, in the great majority of cases easy
> self-modification should have a positive effect; perhaps enough of a
> positive effect to make possible the sorts of societies that would be
> otherwise dismissed as hopelessly utopian.
But the point is that only a small minority NEED be destructive to destroy the
environment for everyone. This becomes more true as power to act becomes
more available. (Also as population increases.) For a fictionalized
treatment of this read "The Man Who Ate the World", if you can find it.
(This one:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/frederik-pohl/man-who-ate-world.htm
Not the more recent "search for a perfect dinner".)
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