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From: lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Free will and responsibility (was Re: Making fires...)
Message-ID: <3850@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 89 02:53:21 GMT
References: <10333@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Organization: University of Hawaii
Lines: 21

From article <10333@ihlpb.ATT.COM>, by arm@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Macalalad):
" In article <17473@cup.portal.com> dan-hankins@cup.portal.com (Daniel B Hankins) writes:
" >...  Once in full swing, such approaches to suppressing
" >behavior unwanted by society would lead to far more effective deterrents to
" >crime.
" 
" This brings to mind a few books like A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World,
" and 1984.  In all of these books, scientific advances enabled governments
" to control and modify the behavior of its citizens.
" 
" That someone could even suggest that this is a good thing to do shocks
" me. ...

Whether one judges it a good thing depends on what one compares it
to.  If I understood the argument in Skinner's _Beyond freedom and
dignity_ (and I'm not sure I did), it was that our behavior *is*
controlled, and will come to be more controlled in the future.
By an LA street gang boss, a General Foods executive, a political
demagogue, Rajneesh -- but the trick is to try to name your poison.

			Greg, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu