[malorum]

Having followed the posts in this topic for some time now I note the following:

There seems to be an ongoing battle of rational vs. irrational in many of the topics.

I generaly can't fault Davids rationality, (although I did think he was losing it when he started talking about the Golden Rule).

Many things hinge on our emotional Operating System. Even if you are a Hard determinist from a logical POV ( As most good rationalists/sceintists should be), you are unlikely to oppose a legal framework for crime and punishement.
Of course this is illogical. Personal accountability is in some sense voided if free will exists only at the level of experience.

The point I am trying to make is that nearly everyone works with an integrated Operating system (i.e they avoid psychological dissonance.)Most people try to convince themselves that their actions are at some level rational.

Let me give another example of why this is wrong:

If we kick/berate ourselves for making mistakes this is irrational since free will is just an illusion (if you believe the logic/science).

And yet we all do it.

My gripe is:

Why can't people just accept the dissonance.

I do. I'm a fundamentalist Christian, despite all my logic and science training screaming at me that I'm wrong.

It's kinda cool. But life is like that.

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]