Subject: Re: Warfare as Sacrifice
From: James Garrabrant <a03jamga-AT-student.his.se>
Date: Fri, 08 Oct 2004 07:37:17 +0200


adline vanlindenbergh <bisouxnoursfast-AT-fastmail.fm> skrev den Thu, 07 Oct 
2004 19:46:11 -0700:

> we could ask the nasa or the marines to explain us if they agree with
> what was said here by you, i would personnaly find their experience of
> internet forum quite the contrary that this forum seems to imply: "as if
> they were dumb folks". is this true? are they short brained?
> On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 17:23:58 -0700, "Sylvie Ruelle"
> <sylvieruelle-AT-earthlink.net> said:
>> so then there is no way to psychologically prepare for battle and the
>> terror of it?
>>


If you're referring to my post below, then I'm going to point out that my 
argument
was instrumental, even ironic. I should thus mention two things:
According to evolutionary theory we all think we're better than others 
(Nasa-employees
and marines included)
&
this perspective encompasses their transparent want to not appear "as if 
they were dumb folks".


Junk-food for thought.



>> On Oct 7, 2004, at 1:39 PM, James Garrabrant wrote:
>>
>> > Richard:
>> >
>> > But hey, you're just begoing the naturalistic fallacy.
>> > According to the evolutionary perspective it was acceptable to allow a
>> > few million on one's side die, because:
>> > 	- there was a belief in victory,
>> > 	- that there was a veil of ignorace over who would die,
>> > 	- that that were was a belief that the sacrifice of a few men would
>> > be best for the survival 	of the group.
>> >
>> > I suppose this boils down to that the genes aren't aware of terror. I
>> > suppose if I were a biologist and my theory starts breaking down here
>> > I'd cite Ernst Jünger's "Storm of Steel". After all, the terror
>> > experienced is not understandable, it's a "queasy feeling of
>> > unreality".
>> >
>> > "The incredible forces in the hour of destiny, to fight for a distant
>> > future, and the violence it so surprisingly, stunningly unleashed, had
>> > taken me for the first time into the depths of something that was more
>> > than mere personal experience. That was what distinguished it from
>> > what I had been through before; it was an initiation that had not only
>> > opened the red-hot chambers of dread but had also led me through
>> > them."
>> > - Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel
>> >
>> > Enjoy.
>> >
>> >
>> >>> 	Nine-million soldiers perished in the First World War and did not
>> >>> pass their genes along. The way the leaders of nations sent nations
>> >>> to  their
>> >>> death, the bizarre nature and quantity of the slaughter, borders on
>> >>> the
>> >>> psychotic.
>> >>>
>> >>> 	To attempt to rationalize such a destructive form of behavior, to
>> >>> assume that it actually made sense (from a biological or any other
>> >>> perspective) is to deny the terror that one would experience if one
>> >>> encountered what actually happened.
>> >>>
>> >>> With regards,
>> >>>
>> >>> Richard Koenigsberg.
>> >
>> >
>> Ms. Sylvie Ruelle
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~sylvieruelle
>> rw_artette_lc-AT-yahoo.com
>>