At 12:34 AM 19/06/99 -0700 Tim Rhodes wrote:
<<
Which is another approach to the same idea -- rather than create a larger
"THEM", you can redefine the "US" as a bigger, more inclusive group.
(Although I think our genetic predisposition to live in groups of 500-1000
may make that an uphill battle for any meme.)
-Prof. Tim
>>
If you redefine "US", you still have all that dangerous "THEM" sentiment laying around, unaimed, going off half-cocked. Human beings thrive on conflict. Actully, conflict helps human beings "grow" dramatically. Don't bet on us losing this propensity any time soon. But conflict doesn't necessarily have to be human against human, which I think I made abundantly clear. Any goal that is sufficiently difficult to achieve, will result in a great deal of conflict, whether its "Man against the elements", or "the final frontier", or something else. You won't be able to escape the human propensity for the emotions that underpin UTism, but you _can_ redirect it to a different "THEM". Just remember that "THEM" doesn't have to be human, or even a single definite thing.
Dan