Apologies for the sound quality on this video - we did what we could with it - the interview is very much worth listening to. If you want to support the show all you have to do is subscribe - it massively helps me in keeping the show on the road and get more great guests so we can dive into the topics that you want to hear about. Thank you for your support!
Intention means absolutely nothing because it can’t be proven, and most people aren’t even conscious of what their true intentions are. What matters is what we do, not why we do it.
For specific actions, yes. However, when determining a pattern of behavior, intent becomes very important. People with Dark Triad traits LOVE to hide behind what appears to be "good" on a cursory level while doing it for the wrong reasons or even doing it to quietly gain control and abuse others. They then can get others who are clueless to help them commit evil since it's under the guise of "good" as explained in the video.
These are trite observations at this point, and they apply to all people, not just one ideology. Human beings focus on their conscious intentions while blind to their unconscious intentions and also make the mistake of failing to test their intention hypotheses against outcomes. In politics and public policy, ideologues of all political persuasions do this all the time, whether it's a counterproductive welfare program or just-say-no to sex. Additionally, people will fall prey to confirmation bias, thinking that they've got solid evidence that their intentions manifest in desirable results while ignoring contrary evidence and competing hypotheses. It happens outside politics as well, in the way people conduct themselves in relationships, marriage and with children. Most people think their ideas are good, but rarely do they genuinely examine outcomes. Efforts to measure intentions and actions against results are more openly embraced in sciences and in business, but even in those endeavors, much care must be taken to guard against the pernicious effects of biases. One other observation: Dr Oakley is not a mental health professional. She has not done extensive reading and work on the notion of pathology, an idea far more complicated and nebulous than she appears to realize. I'd place the phenomenon or group of phenomena she's discussing in the category of biases, which are normal patterns of errors the human mind tends to make universally. And the idea that these errors apply only to altruism or to one part of the ideological spectrum is to fall prey to the confirmation bias that is an element of the very phenomenon she's talking about. I say this as clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working daily with people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and politics, all making the same types of normal errors, and as a human being who knows that I fall prey to the same errors and have to work at being open to corrective feedback.
Michael Shellenberger explains this so well in his book "San Fransicko". Poor city-- transforming itself into that parable of hell paved with good intentions.
I love Michael and his work, I've got the book but didn't get to read it yet. I know about the state of the city from other people and some videos. It's such a shame, San Francisco was such a lovely city, one of my favourite places to go to in States back in 2010-2011.
Results matter. Listen to any video by Stephen Kotkin, the biographer of Stalin: Stalin was trying to do good, and he believed economic equality was good-- so he wiped out private farms. He knew it would result in mass starvation.
Apologies for the sound quality on this video - we did what we could with it - the interview is very much worth listening to.
If you want to support the show all you have to do is subscribe - it massively helps me in keeping the show on the road and get more great guests so we can dive into the topics that you want to hear about. Thank you for your support!
Background music not helping.
brilliant woman with timely wisdom!
Barb is incredible, her books on the subject are mind-blowing and much needed given where we're today.
Intention means absolutely nothing because it can’t be proven, and most people aren’t even conscious of what their true intentions are. What matters is what we do, not why we do it.
For specific actions, yes. However, when determining a pattern of behavior, intent becomes very important. People with Dark Triad traits LOVE to hide behind what appears to be "good" on a cursory level while doing it for the wrong reasons or even doing it to quietly gain control and abuse others. They then can get others who are clueless to help them commit evil since it's under the guise of "good" as explained in the video.
These are trite observations at this point, and they apply to all people, not just one ideology. Human beings focus on their conscious intentions while blind to their unconscious intentions and also make the mistake of failing to test their intention hypotheses against outcomes. In politics and public policy, ideologues of all political persuasions do this all the time, whether it's a counterproductive welfare program or just-say-no to sex. Additionally, people will fall prey to confirmation bias, thinking that they've got solid evidence that their intentions manifest in desirable results while ignoring contrary evidence and competing hypotheses. It happens outside politics as well, in the way people conduct themselves in relationships, marriage and with children. Most people think their ideas are good, but rarely do they genuinely examine outcomes. Efforts to measure intentions and actions against results are more openly embraced in sciences and in business, but even in those endeavors, much care must be taken to guard against the pernicious effects of biases.
One other observation: Dr Oakley is not a mental health professional. She has not done extensive reading and work on the notion of pathology, an idea far more complicated and nebulous than she appears to realize. I'd place the phenomenon or group of phenomena she's discussing in the category of biases, which are normal patterns of errors the human mind tends to make universally. And the idea that these errors apply only to altruism or to one part of the ideological spectrum is to fall prey to the confirmation bias that is an element of the very phenomenon she's talking about. I say this as clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working daily with people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and politics, all making the same types of normal errors, and as a human being who knows that I fall prey to the same errors and have to work at being open to corrective feedback.
Naive
Michael Shellenberger explains this so well in his book "San Fransicko". Poor city-- transforming itself into that parable of hell paved with good intentions.
I love Michael and his work, I've got the book but didn't get to read it yet. I know about the state of the city from other people and some videos. It's such a shame, San Francisco was such a lovely city, one of my favourite places to go to in States back in 2010-2011.
Results matter. Listen to any video by Stephen Kotkin, the biographer of Stalin: Stalin was trying to do good, and he believed economic equality was good-- so he wiped out private farms. He knew it would result in mass starvation.
Altruism will make a much better society than any without it.
Without wisdom, altruism is dangerous.
The aim of living a purposeful life i so hard today, cheap altruism fills the gap
Very well put - tweetable quote that!