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Path: utzoo!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Responsibility and blame
Message-ID: <314@looking.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Jul-85 00:00:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: looking.314
Posted: Mon Jul 29 00:00:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Jul-85 02:53:16 EDT
References: <750@ihuxa.UUCP> <1637@hao.UUCP> <882@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <287@tove.UUCP> <1353@pyuxd.UUCP>
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 27
Summary: 

I'm not sure what this has to do with net.singles, but I'm a bit surprised
to see claims that people aren't responsible for their own emotions.

My counteragument is admittedly somewhat tautological.  You are the thing
that is your body, and in particular your brain.

The only way to counter that statement is to claim some mystical soul
type thing that is the real you, yet is somehow affected and controlled
by what happens to the virtual you.

It's not him, it was his temper.

It's not her, it's something in her genes.

To me those are silly statements.  You are made up of your genes and
brain cells.  You are made up of the patterns within those cells, such
as your emotions.

Of course, outside events do affect you.  But if there's a bug in the
program do we say that only the program is wrong or only the programmer?
Do we shoot the programmer or fix the bug?

And the above is an example of complete outside control.  We still think
a program is a bad program even though it is the total creation of another.
And we aren't programs somebody wrote, I hope 8-)
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473