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An act is rational or irrational depends on whether you can convince yourself. History is littered with examples where men have slaughtered other men just beca

An act is rational or irrational depends on whether you can convince yourself. History is littered with examples where men have slaughtered other men just because their religion "allows" them by some divine right. These men will argue that they acted rationally. Men will invent "rational" reasons to justify the end objective.

bigodbiel 5y ago
They didn’t slaughter because of religion, it was always because of power and means to attain or hold it. From the Crusades, Inquisition, Capitalism-Socialism to modern day Jihadism, it’s all ultimately about power.
etrevino 5y ago
I think that we should break down your thesis into two parts: 1. Those acts preceded by a reason, i.e., the acts are informed by a rationale. The acts are rational to those actors, no matter how irrational they seem to us. 2. Those acts justified in the breach by a rationale. Those are irrational acts. History has both, of course, but it's the second one that we should fear, because it's unknowable and unpredictable. The first one we can try to predict by understanding an actor's milieu.
- zasdffaa 5y ago
  Nice breakdown, thanks.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
Those would be ‘rational’ reasons as there exists a framework within which different agents can reason within and about. Irrational is when there is no framework, or it is extremely fluid. E.g. schizophrenia runs in my family, and once people are old enough and symptoms get worse, you can easily tell when one becomes irrational. The transition in cases of mental disorder is the harder part, because someone’s brain may only be capable of reasoning for 30% of the day, after which it runs out of stamina and a dream-like state can take over (especially if there isn’t enough sleep). Edit: there is a good meme on this actually: https://memegine.com/m/memes-t5sfcr/p https://memegine.com/m/memes-t5sfcr/p

bigodbiel 5y ago

They didn’t slaughter because of religion, it was always because of power and means to attain or hold it. From the Crusades, Inquisition, Capitalism-Socialism to modern day Jihadism, it’s all ultimately about power.

etrevino 5y ago

I think that we should break down your thesis into two parts: 1. Those acts preceded by a reason, i.e., the acts are informed by a rationale. The acts are rational to those actors, no matter how irrational they seem to us. 2. Those acts justified in the breach by a rationale. Those are irrational acts. History has both, of course, but it's the second one that we should fear, because it's unknowable and unpredictable. The first one we can try to predict by understanding an actor's milieu.

zasdffaa 5y ago
Nice breakdown, thanks.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

Those would be ‘rational’ reasons as there exists a framework within which different agents can reason within and about. Irrational is when there is no framework, or it is extremely fluid. E.g. schizophrenia runs in my family, and once people are old enough and symptoms get worse, you can easily tell when one becomes irrational. The transition in cases of mental disorder is the harder part, because someone’s brain may only be capable of reasoning for 30% of the day, after which it runs out of stamina and a dream-like state can take over (especially if there isn’t enough sleep). Edit: there is a good meme on this actually: https://memegine.com/m/memes-t5sfcr/p https://memegine.com/m/memes-t5sfcr/p