Warren_Bonesteel comments on When None Dare Urge Restraint - Less Wrong

41 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 December 2007 11:09PM

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Comment author: Warren_Bonesteel 09 December 2007 11:03:22AM 1 point [-]

hmmm...

Happy Death Spirals, indeed.

No comments on the religious, social and cultural biases that caused a group of extremists to hijack passenger planes and kill as many people as they could.

That reveals a bias in itself, actually. (So much for the scientific method, eh?)

(Hint: They didn't hate us just because we're rich and happy and decadent, or because the last of the Ottoman Empire collapsed during WWI. They don't even hate us because of Western foreign policy.)

Culturally and socially, the world is still a dangerous place. There are still people who will find a reason to kill you, however nice a person or nation you happen to be. However much you share your possessions with others, there are still those among the beneficiaries of your philanthropy who will steal (or defraud you of) the rest of what you own. However nice you happen to be, or however good your communication skills, there are still those humans among you who will kill you, just because they can. Others will kill you simply because you are not them. That's simple reality.

No matter your appeasement, no matter how much you ignore them, some groups and people will hurt you and your families - and thereafter continue to harm you and others - if you don't stop them. Sadly enough, at times, violence must be used in order to prevent them from harming you. You ignore such realities at your own peril. Under our current paradigms, Always Nice is a losing strategy.

Although things are *beginning* to change culturally and socially, the world is still a dangerous place. For all practical purposes, it always will be. Don't play with matches. When the tide unexpectedly goes out, head for higher ground. When visiting a state or national park, don't sleep where bears eat and don't pet the American Bison - if you do, you might die. Don't hike on mountains with billowing flames, smoke and noxious gases. Hot coffee is hot. Knives are sharp. Dogs have sharp teeth. Guns and automobiles are not toys. Don't let your kids play where mountain lions sleep. If you climb a mountain, no matter how experienced and safety conscious you happen to be, you can still fall to your death and/or become a popsickle. Thermodynamics, the laws of physics, of tooth and claw, and of entropy, still apply. You also ignore such things at your own risk.

The world is not a 'nice,' quiet, middle-class, suburban neighborhood.

Happy Death Spirals, indeed.