Comments on: Guns, Materialism, and Tim Kasser http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/ The Sweet Release of Reason Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:07:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: car rental edinburgh http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-375810 car rental edinburgh Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:22:58 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-375810 <strong>car rental edinburgh...</strong> news... car rental edinburgh…

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]]> By: Fatso http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-16671 Fatso Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:01:37 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-16671 I haven't got laid in the ten years since I bought my first gun (at age 35). That bothers me less than it once would have. I infer that owning guns does not boost my testosterone enough to restore youthful levels. I haven’t got laid in the ten years since I bought my first gun (at age 35). That bothers me less than it once would have. I infer that owning guns does not boost my testosterone enough to restore youthful levels.

]]> By: Chad Van Schoelandt http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-16516 Chad Van Schoelandt Sat, 08 Jul 2006 09:56:04 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-16516 "Intrinsically motivated, community minded, meaning-seeking people want houses, cars, dishwashers, North Face fleece pullovers, and iPods all the same." No I don't. Unless you count a shared studio apartment by the train tracks (right where they stop the cargo trains so that I use the sound of the cars crashing into each other as an early morning alarm) as a house, I neither have nor particularly care to have any of those 'things.' I liked your analysis of the misunderstanding of what harmful materialism is. In a similar way, I suspect that there is some truth to the studies mockingly refered to by Russell above, but his skepicism is correct as such studies are easy targets for use in bad arguments. I'd write more, but I have to research the 50 types of toothpaste options before I go shopping in the morning... whitening of tartar control... cool mint or rain forest fresh... This feels much worse than losing $10, but at least the train tracks are only a short walk away. “Intrinsically motivated, community minded, meaning-seeking people want houses, cars, dishwashers, North Face fleece pullovers, and iPods all the same.”

No I don’t. Unless you count a shared studio apartment by the train tracks (right where they stop the cargo trains so that I use the sound of the cars crashing into each other as an early morning alarm) as a house, I neither have nor particularly care to have any of those ‘things.’

I liked your analysis of the misunderstanding of what harmful materialism is. In a similar way, I suspect that there is some truth to the studies mockingly refered to by Russell above, but his skepicism is correct as such studies are easy targets for use in bad arguments. I’d write more, but I have to research the 50 types of toothpaste options before I go shopping in the morning… whitening of tartar control… cool mint or rain forest fresh… This feels much worse than losing $10, but at least the train tracks are only a short walk away.

]]> By: Will Wilkinson http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15978 Will Wilkinson Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:12:41 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15978 I agree with Chris. Kasser is a scientist, and genuinely aims to get at the truth. My complaint is that he seems to be a man with strong political opinions, and it looks like that may sometimes interfere with his doing genuinely illuminating science. I bet Tim Kasser thinks PoMo is completely ridiculous. I agree with Chris. Kasser is a scientist, and genuinely aims to get at the truth. My complaint is that he seems to be a man with strong political opinions, and it looks like that may sometimes interfere with his doing genuinely illuminating science. I bet Tim Kasser thinks PoMo is completely ridiculous.

]]> By: Chris http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15977 Chris Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:02:42 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15977 "The agenda of the pomo crowd..." Wow, with that phrase, you lose pretty much all credibility. Seriously, that's just silly. Kasser's research is flawed, and like many scientists, he draws unwarranted conclusions from it. Furthermore, it's not unlikely that his conclusions were ideologically motivated, but it has nothing to do with a "pomo crowd" attacking reason and truth. Jesus. “The agenda of the pomo crowd…”

Wow, with that phrase, you lose pretty much all credibility. Seriously, that’s just silly. Kasser’s research is flawed, and like many scientists, he draws unwarranted conclusions from it. Furthermore, it’s not unlikely that his conclusions were ideologically motivated, but it has nothing to do with a “pomo crowd” attacking reason and truth. Jesus.

]]> By: Russell http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15964 Russell Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:17:28 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15964 First off, one should ask Sullivan whether he of all people wants to go down the road of arguing the propriety of restricting people's personal behavior because of perceptible changes exerted in a man's hormones as a result of that behavior. Secondly, regarding such research in general, Kasser's rhetorical leaps remind me of "happiness" studies in general that have been used to justify state intervention and redistributive schemes. I recall hearing an NPR commentator last year all atwitter at a study whose results proclaimed that the amount of consumer choice we have now makes people unhappy. Another one was the claim that absolute wealth (ie, the huge amount we all have) isn't important, but only relative wealth, or wealth disparities between the wealthiest and the poorest (which we also have) matters. First off, one should ask Sullivan whether he of all people wants to go down the road of arguing the propriety of restricting people’s personal behavior because of perceptible changes exerted in a man’s hormones as a result of that behavior.

Secondly, regarding such research in general, Kasser’s rhetorical leaps remind me of “happiness” studies in general that have been used to justify state intervention and redistributive schemes. I recall hearing an NPR commentator last year all atwitter at a study whose results proclaimed that the amount of consumer choice we have now makes people unhappy. Another one was the claim that absolute wealth (ie, the huge amount we all have) isn’t important, but only relative wealth, or wealth disparities between the wealthiest and the poorest (which we also have) matters.

]]> By: Bob Doyle http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15962 Bob Doyle Sun, 02 Jul 2006 17:55:31 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15962 "ndeed, when people come to suspect that science is yet another ideological battleground, they will find it much easier to ignore it, thereby minimizing the role rational inquiry plays in public life." Exactly! It is all a part of the agenda of the PoMo crowd in their attack on reason and truth. Use faux science to achieve your agenda and then when and if the "science" is attacked, use the opponents' own attack on the integrity of the "science" to undermine faith in science as the arbiter of truth and to extend their philosophy that the only "truth" is politics. Bob Doyle “ndeed, when people come to suspect that science is yet another ideological battleground, they will find it much easier to ignore it, thereby minimizing the role rational inquiry plays in public life.”

Exactly! It is all a part of the agenda of the PoMo crowd in their attack on reason and truth. Use faux science to achieve your agenda and then when and if the “science” is attacked, use the opponents’ own attack on the integrity of the “science” to undermine faith in science as the arbiter of truth and to extend their philosophy that the only “truth” is politics.

Bob Doyle

]]> By: Chris http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15910 Chris Sat, 01 Jul 2006 23:26:28 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2006/07/01/980/#comment-15910 I suspect that Kasser (and perhaps Sullivan, though I never know how well Sullivan is at actually thinking things out) argues in his paper that there is a connection between testosterone and aggression, so that increased levels of testosterone while handling a gun will lead to increased violence. However, the relationship between testosterone levels and aggression in humans (at least adult humans) is far from clear. There are worrisome implications. Increased testosterone levels tend to make people work harder to acheive or maintain higher social status, which can lead to conflict and violence, but even here the relationship between testosterone and aggression is indirect. So you're right, the study doesn't say much, and further research would be needed to understand the relationship between gun violence and testosterone levels. I suspect that Kasser (and perhaps Sullivan, though I never know how well Sullivan is at actually thinking things out) argues in his paper that there is a connection between testosterone and aggression, so that increased levels of testosterone while handling a gun will lead to increased violence. However, the relationship between testosterone levels and aggression in humans (at least adult humans) is far from clear. There are worrisome implications. Increased testosterone levels tend to make people work harder to acheive or maintain higher social status, which can lead to conflict and violence, but even here the relationship between testosterone and aggression is indirect. So you’re right, the study doesn’t say much, and further research would be needed to understand the relationship between gun violence and testosterone levels.

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