Venturing an opinion —

The State put a traffic signal at an intersection because (anthropomorphizing 
here) The State determined that a number of factors (sight lines, traffic 
volume, ...) made it advisable to regulate the flow of traffic.

The State also made an assumption about the typical driver — they are incapable 
of making an evaluative decision with regard all those factors and therefore 
their behavior must be controlled by mandating stopping at a red light.

The State also makes the assumption that the average highway patrol person 
either lacks the right (only judges may interpret the law) or the capability to 
decide if issuing a ticket at 3 am is reasonable. The Law is the Law. This is 
Fetishizing the Law.

In the case of the traffic signal, the assumptions made about typical drivers 
and highway patrol persons are probably not unreasonable.

In the case of off-label meds, it would seem much more reasonable to assume 
that the typical physician IS capable of making an evaluative decision and 
should therefore be supplied with as much information as possible in support of 
that decision. This is what I believe I observed in Europe.

In contrast, what I believe I am seeing in the US response nothing more than 
"The Law Is The Law."

davew



On Mon, Apr 13, 2020, at 3:24 PM, thompnicks...@gmail.com wrote:
> Friammers,

> 

> Allow me some ill-informed maunderings about the chlor-whatitsface 
> controversy: It seems to me the controversy has to do with our ambivalence 
> with respect to the law. Do we wait for a green light on a deserted street at 
> 3 am or do we drive right through because we KNOW that basic purpose of that 
> light system is to prevent accidents and that there is NO possibility of an 
> accident under present circumstances. When do we take the law into our own 
> hands?

> 

> Now the Health Expert Community Knowledge (hereafter, HECK) tells us that 
> chlor-whatitsface might help some people and might harm some others, and so 
> we should not use it on a single patient until we can *guarantee* to that 
> patient that it will do more good than harm. Meanwhile we hear of doctors 
> writing themselves prescriptions for themselves and their families, just in 
> case. "Aw, HECK, let's just try it."

> 

> So to what extent, I am wondering, is not pushing out chlor-whatitsface to 
> every hospital in the country a case of stopping at the red light at the 
> wilderness intersection in the middle of the night? 

> 

> And why DO we do that? I think we do it because respect for the law is a 
> thing itself and has benefits. Socrates did have a reason to drink the 
> hemlock. Well-designed laws have benefits for the vast majority of citizens 
> in the vast majority of circumstances, and laws, even well designed ones, do 
> not survive long in a society of citizens who pick and choose among them. But 
> Socrates also had reasons not to drink the hemlock. And it's quite possible 
> that, contrary to his final reasoning, we would all be better off, now, if he 
> hadn't. 

> 

> Nick

> 

> Nicholas Thompson

> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

> Clark University

> thompnicks...@gmail.com

> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

> 

> 

> 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ?
> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2020 1:53 PM
> To: FriAM <friam@redfish.com>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] anthropological observations

> 

> I presume it's this one:

> 

> Die geheimen Gene: Das Geheimnis der Kirche und die soziale DNA 
> https://books.google.com/books?id=lpqUDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Jochen+Fromm%22&hl=en&source=newbks_fb

> 

> No copies seem to be available. I also assume propaganda plays a prominent 
> role in your explanation. I keep wondering why Trump's sycophants like 
> Navarro keep claiming the Spanish Flue happened in 1917 instead of 1918. E.g. 
> in this clip: https://youtu.be/nSx704KK_Ik

> 

> #5 and #6 from this list seem plausible to me:

> https://theweek.com/articles/832990/6-theories-trumps-pointless-lies

> 

> When Trump hears Navarro say "1917", it's a signal of loyalty, even if 
> everyone knows it's the wrong year, that he uses that year, helps confirm his 
> loyalty. Knowing to use "1917" instead will help me code-switch if I find 
> myself in a conversation with these people. If you use "1918", they'll know 
> you're out-group. Hypothesis #6 is only plausible if you think Trump is an 
> idiot. But I buy the argument put forth here:

> 

> Tony Norman: Who are you going to believe — POTUS or an actual expert?

> https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/tony-norman/2020/04/07/1917-Donald-Trump-truth-George-Orwell-Anthony-Fauci-Peter-Navarro-hydroxychloroquine/stories/202004070017

> 

> Maybe it's a perverse mix of the expression of power, loyalty, and getting 
> the audience used to fudging the details ... encouraging the cult members to 
> impute the nomothetic even though it fails to fit the idiographic.

> 

> 

> On 4/13/20 11:04 AM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:

> > Link! I should buy the German version and see if I can read some of it. The 
> > last time I tried that was with Faust after my German II semester in 
> > college ... terrible failure.

> 

> 

> --

> ☣ uǝlƃ

> 

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