Alan Watts - The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions
After Skool・8 minutes read
Good intentions can lead to destructive outcomes due to conceit, as seen in attempts to improve the world through sharing culture, religion, and technology. Geneticists face challenges in breeding specific virtues in humans, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a diverse population and adopting a holistic approach to medical treatment to avoid unforeseen negative consequences.
Insights
- Good intentions can lead to destructive outcomes due to conceit, as highlighted by the notion that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
- Geneticists face challenges in determining which virtues to breed in humans through eugenics, emphasizing the potential negative consequences of artificially selecting traits.
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Recent questions
What are the challenges geneticists face?
Determining virtues to breed in humans.
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Summary
00:00
"Good intentions lead to unintended consequences"
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as doing good to others or oneself can be destructive due to conceit.
- Various cultures, including white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, have tried to improve the world by sharing their culture, religion, and technology.
- Geneticists face challenges in determining what virtues to breed in humans, as eugenically produced individuals might have unforeseen negative consequences.
- Maintaining a vast variety of human beings is crucial, as different circumstances may require different types of people.
- Medical treatment often focuses on isolated issues, but the human body is a complex interrelated organism, requiring a holistic approach.
- The consequences of medical advancements, such as population growth and side effects of treatments, must be carefully considered to avoid unforeseen disasters.
