Re: Re: wow - is a "shadow" politician still a politician?

["Brian Loe" <knobdy () gmail com>]

On 8/31/07, Alex Shipp (elist) <elist-alex () starlabs net> wrote:
<SNIP>
> If I re-read the arguements in the the thread, this is what I
> feel I am reading:
>
> Dr Solly says that society as a whole is better of as doves.
>
> Brian Loe says he personally is better off as a hawk.
>
> Exactly what game theory predicts.

This has to be one of the most interesting additions to this discussion.

I have to take exception to the theory, of course.

Hawks are the natural predators of doves.
Humans are not naturally given to the killing of other humans - in
fact, its the exact opposite.
Humans will work together for their overall benefit - its rare that we
kill for a food source, not since coming out of the caves at least.

I don't know about game theory, but for your analogy to work, in terms
of hawks and doves,  all humans must be hawks. Aggressive hawks are
criminals and passive hawks are the law abiding citizens. The passive
hawks will avoid confrontation but will still defend themselves and
their nests when attacked.

If another analogy would help, are there any cat owners on the list?
Do they live in the home but travel around outside? Have you declawed
them? Generally speaking a cat owner will not declaw his cat if he
lets that cat outside on occasion. As any cat owner can tell you, if
you declaw your cat it will be unable to hunt (and you might want it
to catch moles and mice and such - I do) and it will be unable to run
away from predators (climb a tree) and it will be unable to defend
itself against predators and competitors. I think this is the
difference between those armed and those that aren't. In fact, a cat
that has its claws removed may very well change its personality by
either becoming aggressive or by avoiding all contact with anything -
out of FEAR, because it knows it can't defend itself.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm - changed our minds on
the subject, btw.
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