You can 'turtles all the way down' it all you want (A god fearing person goes to heaven for selfish reasons, blah blah), but how is altruism a myth - Could you possibly elaborate? (TIA)
Anyway, I do agree that altruism is arguably not the correct term for this movement, given that the members probably look after themselves first (subconsciously or otherwise) then are able to engage in giving (and cannot truly be 'selfless' in the hermetically sealed sense of the word).
Much altruism - especially in the Silicon Valley subculture sense - comes with positive externalities. You gain influence, popularity, brand, whatever, from activities that always seem to go well publicized.
If you're gaining something, and you know you're gaining something going into it, can it really be altruistic?
That's a reasonable and necessary question. Of course, the answer hinges on how one chooses to define altruism and any values framework deriving from it (cue Moral Philosophy 101). Like a lot of things which are good within reason, if taken to extremes, unconstrained altruism can lead to some pretty strange moral quicksand and unworkable outcomes. Deciding what is "reasonable" and what is "extreme" falls into the Venn overlap between "It's complicated" and "It depends."
As much shit as Ayn Rand gets, when I actually read her philosophical writing specifically on altruism I thought she got one thing right. If altruism becomes (or is assumed to be) a moral obligation rather than a personal contextual choice, it doesn't lead to a workable society - at least at scale and in the long-term. That had never occurred to me until I read her reasoning about it.
chris-orgmenta|2 years ago
Anyway, I do agree that altruism is arguably not the correct term for this movement, given that the members probably look after themselves first (subconsciously or otherwise) then are able to engage in giving (and cannot truly be 'selfless' in the hermetically sealed sense of the word).
tmpz22|2 years ago
Much altruism - especially in the Silicon Valley subculture sense - comes with positive externalities. You gain influence, popularity, brand, whatever, from activities that always seem to go well publicized.
If you're gaining something, and you know you're gaining something going into it, can it really be altruistic?
mrandish|2 years ago
That's a reasonable and necessary question. Of course, the answer hinges on how one chooses to define altruism and any values framework deriving from it (cue Moral Philosophy 101). Like a lot of things which are good within reason, if taken to extremes, unconstrained altruism can lead to some pretty strange moral quicksand and unworkable outcomes. Deciding what is "reasonable" and what is "extreme" falls into the Venn overlap between "It's complicated" and "It depends."
As much shit as Ayn Rand gets, when I actually read her philosophical writing specifically on altruism I thought she got one thing right. If altruism becomes (or is assumed to be) a moral obligation rather than a personal contextual choice, it doesn't lead to a workable society - at least at scale and in the long-term. That had never occurred to me until I read her reasoning about it.