----- Original Message ----- From: "Luke Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 12:28 AM Subject: Re: Chomsky takes down Hitchens
> Justin writes:
> > I'm not so sure it's an absurd bit of wisdom. Self-righteousness
can be
> > pretty lethal. In any case, the law generally doesn't care much
about our
> > intentions, at least ex ante. It modifies our behavior by giving
us
> > incentives and disintentives. Don't deal drugs because you will go
to jail
> > for a long time. Don't discriminate or you will have to pay a lot
of money
> > at least defending a lawsuit, as well as putting out compensatory
and
> maybe
> > punitive damages. So the way we operate belies your idea that you
need to
> > care a lot about intentions to modify people's behavior. Politics
is like
> > that too. It's best to assume that most pols are opportunistic
slimebags
> who
> > can be made to behave only by threats of losing elections, facing
public
> > embarassment, or having to deal with public disorder.
>
> You raised a number if good points that I'll address later. For
now,
> though, I'll say only this: operant conditioning, despite what B.F.
Skinner
> may've thought, works by altering the mental states of the agents
involved.
> For instance, I can't think of a case of an "unwitting" drug dealer
who
> didn't really "mean" to push heroin. The fact that intentions and
the
> behaviors that ensue change due to extrinsic sanction is hardly a
shock to
> even a naif like myself.
>
> -- Luke
========== Well if we had a free market those who sold heroin would be recognized for what they are; capitalists selling a commodity. So maybe the wrong people are being "operantly conditioned."
Ian