When we weigh options in our mind, we pick the one that yields the cocktail of chemicals/neurotransmitters that induce the strongest positive response in our reward center. Or rather, the cocktail of chemicals/neurotransmitters that elicits the strongest positive response Is able to pass its signals through to the motor neurons.
A desire to be moral, a desire to avoid pain, a desire to protect kin, all release chemicals.
Seen in this light, the phrase “everything one does is selfish” appears to reduce to “all choices are weighed through one’s own neural algorithm.” Which is so obvious as to be trivial. The only way to get around this would be to detach your motor neurons from your reward center, and hook them up to a committee of, say, ten other people’s reward centers, with the action that receives the highest average response being performed. And the detachment is crucial. You can’t just willingly abide by the committee’s decision, because your choice to obey would still be passing through your own neural algorithm.
Is this what people mean when they boldly assert that everything a person does is selfish? I don’t think so. I think, when looked at like this, the question dissolves.
When we weigh options in our mind, we pick the one that yields the cocktail of chemicals/neurotransmitters that induce the strongest positive response in our reward center. Or rather, the cocktail of chemicals/neurotransmitters that elicits the strongest positive response Is able to pass its signals through to the motor neurons.
A desire to be moral, a desire to avoid pain, a desire to protect kin, all release chemicals.
Seen in this light, the phrase “everything one does is selfish” appears to reduce to “all choices are weighed through one’s own neural algorithm.” Which is so obvious as to be trivial. The only way to get around this would be to detach your motor neurons from your reward center, and hook them up to a committee of, say, ten other people’s reward centers, with the action that receives the highest average response being performed. And the detachment is crucial. You can’t just willingly abide by the committee’s decision, because your choice to obey would still be passing through your own neural algorithm.
Is this what people mean when they boldly assert that everything a person does is selfish? I don’t think so. I think, when looked at like this, the question dissolves.