wedrifid comments on Rationality Quotes: December 2010 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Tiiba 03 December 2010 03:23AM

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Comment author: wedrifid 23 December 2010 05:55:51AM *  13 points [-]

The moral code of our society is so demanding that no one can think, feel and act in a completely moral way. [...] Some people are so highly socialized that the attempt to think, feel and act morally imposes a severe burden on them. In order to avoid feelings of guilt, they continually have to deceive themselves about their own motives and find moral explanations for feelings and actions that in reality have a non-moral origin.

-- Ted Kaczynski

Comment author: gwern 24 December 2010 06:13:00PM 2 points [-]

From chapter 4, #25 of The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society And Its Future.

Comment author: wedrifid 25 December 2010 03:35:19AM 3 points [-]

I was actually curious how that quote would be received. The quote itself is insightful and relevant yet the author is a source of negative affect, approximately a terrorist. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Comment author: gwern 25 December 2010 03:39:47PM 0 points [-]

I'm not surprised. I think a number of us read Kevin Kelly's essay; he was a very smart guy and so avoids the most obvious errors; and even shares quite a few basic views with us - he just takes them in a different way ('one man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens'). And I think he's been quoted and upvoted in the past.