[MD] Flying Spaghetti Monsters

Wed Sep 27 15:57:10 PDT 2006

Ian,

Help me understand your meaning of "public interest" - please give your
definition.

Freedom like quality is indefinable, usually the limits are what defines
freedom, but then freedom with limits is not freedom, is it?

You are very vague...please define this "greater good" to which you keep
referring.

Micah

-----Original Message-----
From: moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org
[mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org]On Behalf Of ian glendinning
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 11:20 AM
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Subject: Re: [MD] Flying Spaghetti Monsters

Hi Micah, responses inserted ...

On 9/27/06, Micah <micah at roarkplumbing.com> wrote:
> Ian,
>
> You didn't define "public interest", you just renamed it using less
> definable terms. The problem with the "public interest" is that it is
> definable, but no one will abide by the proper definition.
>
> The "public interest" is that which is the best interest of the public.

[IG] Ah so it was a trick question :-) You already had a definition in
mind. That definition's OK by me. I need to say something about
definitions though. Your definition shifts the problem along to
defining "best interests" and "the public". ie your definition is
simply a logical construction of these two. Definitions don't really
help in the real world. I think it was Minsky who said don't confuse
definition with understanding.

> Meaning that everyone agrees with and can benefit from, that interest. The
> only thing that can be agreed on and benefit all, is freedom. Freedom is
the
> only "public interest". Freedom is also the only greater good, and it
> increases happiness...and it has quality.

[IG] So you added your definition of that "interest" ... Freedom.
Great, no problem, but that's freedom within some moral framework of
evaluating relative "goods" ... just like the MoQ. Freedom is a bigger
debate ... already running in other threads. There are many subtley
different working understandings of "freedom", however defined by
whoever.

> You may say some people do not
> want to be free, but that is a choice that is made through freedom. Beware
> those that don't define the "public interest", because surely enslavement
is
> their interest.
>
> Who do you consider good/great writers? Pirsig?

[IG] Prose style / communication of ideas (irrespectve of the ideas) T
E Lawrence, Dupuy, Dennett, Voltaire, Dostoevsky, Feynman, AC  Clarke,
William Gibson, Eco, Lem, Douglas Adams, Melville, Willis, Salman
Rushdie, Pirsig or course, to name a random few ... from the top of my
head. I guess the common feature is wit.

>
> I would remind you that "free economy" implies no interference. Adam Smith
> has covered self interest and free economies in "Wealth of Nations", so I
> won't attempt to here.

[IG] Literally "no interference" is just one extreme end of the
argument. Appropriate freedom, within a moral framework .... etc. Adam
Smith I have read significant chunks of ... economics / MBA stuff ...
people who sloganize his "free market" miss most of the subtleties of
his good arguments. But he's hardly the final word. Have you read
"Economics of Love" or any of the more recent "narrative" based
economic theories ?

>But how do you feel about tobacco subsides? That work
> out for you?

[IG] Tobacco subsidies .... I don't know details, or have any direct
interest, but .... having got a large tobacco industry (historical
fact), the usual argument for subsidies is transitional, not support
or preservation ... part of the dynamic of creating industries of
greater moral value / public interest .. the problem is the corruption
of the intent, when individuals stand to gain more than the public
interest ... so such interventions need careful, open management of
appropriate freedoms. (And then we're into appropriate "MoQ-safe"
mechanisms of governance ... which is a subject I've been hoping would
get a serious non-partisan airing)

>
> As for mimicking her style, your review contains no gray. You say the idea
> was "great" and the execution "painful", which I equate to hate, because I
> hate feeling pain. You however, if I read correctly, do not hate pain...do
I
> detect a little Sadomasochism?

[IG] Not that I'm aware of. But sometime breaking eggs, taking a hit
for a greater good, is necessary. I'd have though great but painful
indicated a middle ground. As I said the catch-22 of discourse is to
treat what is said as logical assertions. Damned if you do, damned if
you don't. The only antidote is more discussion, experience and
interaction. Language has its limitations.

>
> You felt "disappointed and sad for her"? What an odd little statement.

[IG] Perhaps I should have stuck at disappointed. As I said a great
idea, an opportunity missed. Sympathy with her predicament as a
Russian emigre with a necessarily narrow, dare i say naive, view of
her new US saviour.

One thing she is very strong on is "the examined life" .... don't do
anything just because it is the received wisdom. Ask and know. Can't
fault her there.

Regards
Ian

>
> Micah
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org
> [mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org]On Behalf Of ian glendinning
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 8:43 PM
> To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> Subject: Re: [MD] Flying Spaghetti Monsters
>
>
> Micah, not being an objectivist myself, I may be unable to provide the
> answer you want.
>
> Greater good of the greater number, net increase in happiness, net
> progress up the MoQ hierarchy. Some good utilitarian (pragmatic)
> measure.
>
> Hate is a bit strong, but I found her style painful, I actually fely
> disappointed and sad for her. It didn't stop me searching for her
> arguments though, but I just couldn't find any, and nor could anybody
> I asked on here.
>
> I'd be interested in an example I could either agree with or refute
> (other than the implicit one I already gave ... about bad public
> interference in free economy somehow inferring that public
> interference was ispo-facto bad.)
>
> I'd also be interested in an example of where you see my style as
> mimicking hers, It's quite possible, a kind of catch-22 of finding any
> credible way of breaking out of the objectivist style of
> argumentation.
>
> Ian
>
> On 9/26/06, Micah <micah at roarkplumbing.com> wrote:
> > Ian,
> >
> > As an Objectivist, I would be interested in your definition of the
"public
> > interest".
> >
> > As for writing style, Ayn fits her philosophy - which is the mark of a
> good
> > writer. Characters are good or bad, etc. Ayn is either loved or hated.
> > Objectivism - either/or - good/bad. You even mimic her style in review.
> >
> > Which of her arguments can you logically refute?
> >
> > I totally agree that MOQ and Objectivism are tight.
> >
> > Micah
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org
> > [mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org]On Behalf Of ian glendinning
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 3:13 PM
> > To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> > Subject: Re: [MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters
> >
> >
> > Hi Ben, You said
> > I've read Atlas, which I thought was a brilliant book.  Rand condemns
> > altrusim, which I thought was the weakest part of her argument, although
> she
> > may be defining altruism differently than how I would.  Rand condemns
> > certain behaviors that are justified as being altruistic (such as wealth
> > redistribution) but I believe her to be quite an altruist herself.  The
> > whole point of her book is that by disrespecting the industrialists--the
> > movers and the shakers--politicans and bureaucrats destroy society.
> >
> > I've read it too. I thought it was brilliant idea for a book, but I
> > found her thin on actual arguments generally, and mind-numbingly
> > pedestrian in style.
> >
> > The behaviors she condemns, that were justified as altruistic, were in
> > fact so obviously fictional, misguided, misconceived and corruptly
> > applied legislation etc, that I found her pointing out the folly as
> > just too simplistic. No way did she have any arguments against well
> > devised "public interest" incentives.
> >
> > This industrialist is good, this law is bad, these law makers are
> > corrupt, therefore any and all public intervention is bad. Some
> > argument.
> >
> > Disrespecting anybody is bad for society, not just industrialists.
> > (She just saw the US in contrast to her troubled Soviet motherland at
> > the time, and made too simple a conclusion. McArthyist I said several
> > times) I did find that in summary her philosophy, despite being
> > descibed as "objectivism", was remarkably close to evolutionary
> > psychology and MoQ in practice.
> >
> > Ian
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