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Originally posted by cantdrv55
Best thread I've read in a very long time.
I bet if we list down all the characteristics one must possess to achieve financial success, we will agree that the Kragen fellow was missing one or more that have nothing to do with genetics or environment.
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I think some of you are misreading what Steve is pointing to, and what I have tried to point to. Let me ask you this: Aside from genetics and environment ("nature and nurture"), what do you believe would be a third category of input into our decisions?
My story about the aliens is one that gets considered often in philosophical and psychological circles. This notion of "free will" is interesting, and there is a good argument to be made that "free will" does not exist, except as our plain observation that we are insiders to our decision-making process.
Steve is not trying to argue anyone's superiority or inferiority. He's just pointing out that our actions are to a large degree (if not completely, 100%) DETERMINED. "Determination", as I say, is an interesting philosophical position, and some of you seem to have not worked through the elements of that discussion. This notion that our decisions are "free" can become difficult to defend.
And then taking a look at the big picture, we notice that there will be winners and there will be losers in our economic system. By definition. If any of you think we can all be winners in a capitalism system, then you have not thought it through. Steve asserts that how we treat the 'losers' becomes a powerful statement about our society. About our obedience to the main Christian principles stated and restated and repeated many times in the Bible.