Re: Post-petroleum World?

From: Wayne Throop (throopw_at_sheol.org)
Date: 06/06/04 

Date: Sun, 06 Jun 2004 21:47:46 GMT

::: I do not like the phrase "balance of altruism and greed", as nothing
::: really good can come from greed. However, I do like the term
::: "enlightened self interest", which is not precisely greedy.

:: tbondhus <antpower@conceivia.com>
:: "Enlighted" means trained.

Not really; not according to the dictionaries I've consulted.
It borders on "trained" in some contexts, but not many.
And in the context of "enlightened self-interst" as it was
brought up here, it means more "freed from illusion" or
"having relevant experience"; self-interest tempered by a longer
planning horizon.

Further, in general, "educated" more than "trained".
The connotations of the two can differ significantly.

:: So are you then accepting that greed is trained behavior?

So far as I can tell, greed isn't a behavior at all.
But you probably mean "greedy behavior is trained", or some such.

But more to the point, wasn't the point that enlightened behaviors
are NOT greedy behaviors? And that therefore, greedy behaviors aren't
necessarily trained?

: rlbell@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Richard Bell)
: I apologize for the misuse of the word "Enlightened". I liked the
: sound of "enlightened self interest"

Pfft. I don't see that you misused it at all; "enlightened self
interest" is a fairly widely-used term, and a reasonable application
of the term "enlightened". IMO.

: To understand what I meant to say, delete every instance of
: "enlightened" from my post. Greed is an unnatural and destructive
: desire for personal property. Self interest is merely wanting more
: for self.

"Unnatural" is probably prone
to even more misunderstandings than "enlightened".

The difference between greed and self-interest to me is, greed is
blinkered self-interest, without foresight; the distinction between
greed and enlightened self-interest to me, then, is largely the planning
horizon. And therefore, greed can all to easily be short-sighted and
self-defeating.

But that may well just be me; my usage may be idiosyncratic.

Wayne Throop throopw@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw