Limitless

[swacker]

This automatically brings the question of where does our morality come from?

If this sort of thing interests you I would recommend Richard Dawkins' book The selfish Gene

 

[Dutch]

If this sort of thing interests you I would recommend Richard Dawkins' book The selfish Gene

Thanks for the heads up. To be honest I know the book and the basic point it wishes to make although I ahve to say I cannot agree with it as a final conclusion as to what morality is. I am thinking about some things that the previous poster has brought forward and hope to reply to that soon and give at least an impression as to where I stand on the the origin, concept and purpose of morailty. For whatever worth that is!

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I would actually say have a gander at flowers for algernon, good book in which a man with learning disabilities participates in an experiment to increase his intelligence to the level of a genius. obviously being a book and an internal narration the writer explores the inward consequences.

er, not entirely sure what it has to do with morality though. that's a whole different subject tackled in a variety of ways by various philosophers down the road. although given the way you described a perfect ideal of good, and plus seeing as you're dutch, I'm guessing you've looked at a bit of spinoza already.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Most people will exploit others with lesser minds. This is human nature. Human Greed knows no bounds.
I don't know what I will do with such power. I am positively sure that I will not turn evil but you never know. With power comes the temptation to have it all.

 

[6ry4nj]

Most people will exploit others with lesser minds. This is human nature. Human Greed knows no bounds.
I don't know what I will do with such power. I am positively sure that I will not turn evil but you never know. With power comes the temptation to have it all.

Yeah that's the status quo. That's where we're currently at - some are privileged, and we who are privileged appear to profit from the fact that most do not share our privilege.

Here we are addressing the possibility that the playing field could be levelled. What if the capacity to 'rise' to the privileged state was freely available to everyone? What if there are no lesser minds to exploit?

 

[Dutch]

It all boils down to this point as far as I can see and at the risk of repeating myself here goes.

Is a concept objective or subjective?

Good is a concept.
Circle is a concept.

We tend very qucikly to agree with each other that a circle is a circle.
With good it is obviously much harder.

However, is the circle as a concept we all understand only understandable because we all "agree" to it or is it understandable because our thinking is able to comprehend the absolute truth of it. Whether I think it or not, a circle is surely true?

My premise is thus that once our capacity to think has developed to its fullest capacity, whatever that means, we will find an objective content for the concept good that holds for every single person in every single situation regardless of personal preference. The concept of good is just as objective as the concept of circle.

If I am not willing to give concepts an objective truth then of course I can never agree with this. However we must take into doubt every single aspect of our lives in this case, for what is then objective?

The circle exists whether I agree with it or not, whether I like it or not.

This is the same for "good".

That people cannot yet agree with each other what good is has nothing to do with the concept itself, only our inability to think it.

Once we can all comprehend the utter conceptual content of "good" there will be no disagreement just like we would never disagree with the fact that a triangle has 3 angles.

 

[6ry4nj]

When considering the question of what would happen if we all developed to our full potential, I don't think it makes any difference whether there is an objective meaning of the concept "good".

If good has an objective meaning, we will all discover it, and thus come into harmony with each other. If good doesn't have an objective meaning, we will all learn to get along, because our immense capabilities work better when they are not in conflict with those of others. Either way, harmony is achieved. If we still cared which way we got there, that - not now - would be the time for arguing about it...

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If I am not willing to give concepts an objective truth then of course I can never agree with this. However we must take into doubt every single aspect of our lives in this case, for what is then objective?

If I give concepts an objective truth, then I am constantly second-guessing myself as to whether my version of the concept is any good. I am prone to being misled by someone who claims to be absolutely sure what constitutes "good" for me. Or I may be absolutely sure myself, and try to impose my version of good on others.

I avoid this by having a conception of good that is independent of the conceptions other people have. I am thus free to be free from doubt, without being prejudiced, elitist or "fundamentalist"/"extremist".

 

[sami ullah khan]

I thought all night what could we achieve with a mind with limitless potential.

and following was the fruit of all that thinking:-


A Playable cricket game we all want

 

[Cricketdude]

Watched Limitless the other day...What a pointless movie lol

 

[ste_mc_efc]

I'd probably still just sit around all day browsing the internet