The Virtuous Republic, Part 1: What can we Learn From Attempts at Utopian SocietiesThe Virtuous Republic, Part 1: What can we Learn From Attempts at Utopian Societies
Abstract: History is littered with the remains of broken attempts at utopian societies. To the best of my knowledge, most have failed for one major reason. They rely on virtue, but do not build it into their societies. Utopian leaders…
Virtue and Operant Conditioning
When my son started optometry school, he heard about a program that helped to pay the costs of books. He went to his counselor to apply for it and was told he did not meet the demographics for the grant.…
Operant Conditioning and Conditional Expectations and Change
In Operant Conditioning, Path Dependency and Societal Revolution, Part 2, I brought in the concept of expectation management, but did not develop it too much. This post looks at it in more detail and how it relates to and reinforces…
Why do we act in other than our self-interest? Is the rational actor/choice theory valid?
Over a few blog entries (see the Defending the Republic series), I have wondered why people who do not seem to benefit from social justice efforts support and endorse them. Why would a white male push an agenda designed…
Trump Assassination Attempt and the Golden Spike
In Part 4 of the Operant Conditioning series, I used the golden sike that united the trans-continental railroad: Why do we need to do this? Because we have lost the art of constructive debate. Both sides rely on far more…
Operant Conditioning, Path Dependency and Societal Revolution, Part 4
This is the last part in a four-part series. Part 1 discussed the principles of Operant Conditioning and Path Dependency. Part 2 looked at what happens when philosophy and religion are blocked or obscured in a culture and the vacuum…
Operant Conditioning, Path Dependency and Societal Revolution, Part 3
Source: Discovering Neptune So how do dark philosophers (see Part 2) propagate the dark gospel and create the changes they seek? On the surface, if we only look at the racial aspects, we may reach some misleading and even harmful…
