On Wed, 26 Jan 2005, Luke Weiger wrote:
> Unfortunately, there is, and you can't wish it away. There have been many
> attempts to solve the social engineering problem you describe above. None
> have succeeded. We can't love countless numbers of people any more than a
> dog can serve a thousand masters. But fortunately we're capable of
> cooperating with people we don't much care about.
>
> -- Luke
Then you agree with me! I'm talking about agape, not eros. It has been demonstrated in numerous social contexts throughout history that people are capable of cooperating and working for the good of others. Whatever human nature is, it's plastic enough to create both the calculated self-interest of the capitalist and the dedicated scientist committed to the well being of all people (I'm think of Linus Pauling thumbing his nose at the idea of profiting from his work on the polio vaccine).
Again, the problem here isn't human nature.
Miles