Eugine_Nier comments on Guilt: Another Gift Nobody Wants - Less Wrong

67 Post author: Yvain 31 March 2011 12:27AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (100)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: rwallace 31 March 2011 11:37:46AM 2 points [-]

Hmm. Thinking about it a little more myself, it seems to me the social is much more important than the material in this regard. In other words, someone who secretly commits a crime and gains great material benefit therefrom, but will be punished if ever caught, is likely to feel guilty. But if the crime is known and approved of by his social circle - even if that's only a gang or terrorist group - and even if he gained no material benefit, he's much less likely to feel guilty (until and unless that social circle is broken and he finds himself in prison).

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 31 March 2011 11:24:22PM 5 points [-]

If the crime is approved by his social circle, as far as his mind is concerned it's not really a crime.

After all, if you help massacre the rival tribe and take their stuff, there's no reason to feel guilty about this among one's tribe. One only needs to display guilt when dealing with other tribes that are considering forming an alliance against your tribe.