Re: Seven Blunders of the World that Lead to Violence

Hal Finney (
Fri, 11 Jul 1997 10:35:32 -0700

> The first seven are attributed to Gandhi, the eighth to his grandson
> and the last four to the originator of this wonderful reminder I
> received in e-mail.
> * Wealth without work
> * Pleasure without conscience
> * Knowledge without character
> * Commerce without morality
> * Science without humanity
> * Worship without sacrifice
> * Politics without principle
> Rights without responsibilities
> [Arun Gandhi]
> Technology without direction
> Connection without community
> Teaching without joy
> Learning without hope

It is hard to understand why "violence" is the specific ill said to
follow from violating these principles. I could see that some of them
might lead to unhappiness or disappointment, but a lot more would have
to go wrong before violence would result.

>From an individualist perspective, these are not "blunders of the world."
Some of them may be unwise practices for individuals. Although they
are expressed in the language of conventional morality, there may be
something there that we can use. Let me try to go beyond the conventional
interpretation of some of these items, and see what they could usefully
say to extropians:

> * Wealth without work

If you have a lot of wealth, and just sit around and enjoy it all the
time, there is a good chance that ultimately your lifestyle is going
to seem boring and pointless. For most people, having a challenge, a
goal, a chance for improvement, is an important part of a happy life.
(Note, there may be some people for whom this is not true, and who really
are satisfied just enjoying a pleasant lifestyle.)

> * Pleasure without conscience

Conscience represents your suppressed knowledge of problems in your
current situation. If your conscience is bothering you, it's because
at some level you believe you should be doing something different, but
you are trying to ignore it. In this sense, the advice is valid: be
aware of the full ramifications of what you are doing. Look at the
long term consequences of your actions. Don't just ignore problems,
hoping they will go away; do something about them.

> * Knowledge without character

I interpret this as distinguishing between "book" or theoretical knowledge,
and "character", which is learned through actual experience with the real
world. It's a common mistake to think that the first can be a substitute
for the second. (Another mistake is to think that the second can be a
substitute for the first, people who have practical experience but refuse
to believe that theoretical analysis has any value.) This advises us
to test our theories against reality, to go out and interact with the
world. This is an important source of information and learning which
some people ignore.

> * Commerce without morality

Think of this as another recommendation to look at long term consequences
of actions. It may seem attractive to cheat or shave some corners in a
commercial interaction, but in the long run this will hurt your reputation
and interfere with success.

> * Science without humanity

This could be seen as advice to think through the full consequences of
implementing a new technology. "Humanity" really refers to the world as
a whole as it is impacted by a scientific advance. Don't burn down your
rain forest land so you can grow wheat without thinking about whether
it may hold valuable pharmaceuticals.

> * Worship without sacrifice

This is really advice to avoid hypocrisy. If you think of yourself as
a worshiper, you should make your actions suit your thoughts. Actually
worshiping will require some sacrifice.

More generally, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that
thoughts are as good as actions. An example would be someone who
thinks of himself as taking steps to improve his life just by reading
mailing lists. Unconsciously he identifies with the progress being
made by other people on the list, and he thinks he is improving himself
in that same way. But actually he is not making the real effort and
real sacrifices which are necessary to move forward.

We see this a lot in the cryonics community. There are people who think
cryonics is a good idea and can work, and even think of themselves as
being in a position to receive the benefits of the technology, except that
they haven't actually signed up to have the procedure done! Taking that
extra step is the costly one in time and effort, and it's surprising
how many people don't do it.

> * Politics without principle

The idea here is consistency. Politicians without principle change with
the latest opinion poll or lobbyist contribution. They end up moving on
a random walk through position space, and don't accomplish much.

By adopting principles and following them, you coordinate the actions in
your life so you are moving generally in a consistent direction. Align
your goals with your principles and they will be that much easier to

I won't try to go on and do the other ones. The technique should be clear.
The real point is not to reject this kind of advice just because it is
cloaked in the language of conventional morality, or offered by someone
who is perhaps approaching issues from a very different direction than
your own. Often if you look a little deeper you will find common ground.


P.S. Curiously, reversing several of these points makes them equally valid
IMO, and often more extropian:

* Work without wealth
People should work with the goal of significant rewards. Sacrifice,
save, so that you are improving your financial picture.
* Conscience without pleasure
Don't be so focused on the big picture that you forget to enjoy
the happy moments.
* Character without knowledge
Explained above - don't scorn the boys in the ivory tower.
* Morality without commerce
Ethical and honest behavior is good, but you can't ignore the reality
that work is necessary to survive. This also emphasizes the
importance of the division of labor and cooperative commercial
agreements in terms of benefiting everyone.
* Humanity without science
Without science and technology we are little better than animals.