Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>>>At some places but not in general. If you had started reading when you were two you wouldn't be able to categorically make this statement. Chill out on proclamations about things that you couldn't possibly know.<<<

I am sorry if it came out as if I was making a categorical statement. It is quite true that I might not have read up on those subjects as much as you have, from an academic point of view anyway.

What I was trying to imply was that even though earlier a few years ago I used to snort at such things, but now I have some rather unique life experience that has changed my view point. I've come to realize that people aren't really rational beings at the end and it is quite important to study what composes their identity in order to make sure that you don't burn up bridges.

Think about it this way. We live in an interconnected world where our ideas are not judged my majority of the population on the basis of pure intellectual merit. The idea that all human beings are born equal is met with acclaim around the world as long as it supports people's bottom lines. The very next second they tear it apart and turn into oppressors. Thomas Jefferson put it quite beautifully;

What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment and death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment . . . inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

I have experienced that first hand in my life, and now I understand the value of understanding how people behave and why they behave the way they do so. The entire way that field now works in some places is quite like intellectual fraud. I know this through a few interesting experiences with a few psychologists.

So sorry about that.

edit: Those experiences were supplemented by stuff I downloaded from iTunes U.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: