Taxes, Charity, and Pleasure

[DragonMaci]

Read this and tell me what you think of it. To me it seems a clear indication of how altruistic and how unaware of the nature of taxes and statist governments people have become.

[John McVey]

To me it seems a clear indication of how altruistic and how unaware of the nature of taxes and statist governments people have become.

Exactly. All that the article is really doing is showing the fact that consciousness is a real causal consequence of the nature of the brain. On top of that, it is also confirming the Objectivist point that morality supercedes anything else in terms of practicality and people want to revel in demonstrations of their ability to achieve their values, whatever those values may be. It is just showing a neurological demonstration of how that when people hold certain ideas as true these ideas act as the standards of value by which concrete actions are judged. Naturally therefore, actions that measure up well against those standards of value lead to positive emotions, and - surprise surprise - it is detectable in the brain.

The author is trying to say - totally improperly - that altruism is inherently pleasurable, that we are programmed in disregard of our actual wills to be so. Poppycock! If the same experiments were conducted on Objectivists there'd be a similar finding of increased happiness exemplified in the brain states they're examining were we instead to be tracked achieving our values according to our moral codes. That finding would totally throw a spanner in the works of the social engineers, however, so that experiment ain't happening in a hurry

JJM

[Capitalism Forever]

He believes the results of his new study help explain the widespread compliance with tax laws.

I'm sure the threat of jail time has nothing to do with the widespread compliance with tax laws. </sarcasm>

[aequalsa]

I'm sure the threat of jail time has nothing to do with the widespread compliance with tax laws. </sarcasm>

Yeah, exactly.

Taxes are pleasurable? gah.I hate when researchers or reporters writing a story jump that far ahead to a conclusion without a firm understanding of full context. I despise paying taxes, but when I pay them I feel relieved in the sense of having one less threat to deal with for a little while and in all probability my brain would show a spike in endorphines or whatever they were watching to determine "pleasure". Also, the experiment does not appear to have been controlled well. Being under scrutiny, of course they feel good when they perform the task that the researcher wants them to with regard to an insignificant amount of money.

I'd be more interested to see what happens under an MRI when someone gets a letter from the IRS informing them of an additional $40,000 in taxes which they owe. I somehow doubt they would be experiencing feelings of pleasure which they don't know about. However, after saving up for several years to pay it off and clearing their credit, they may experience some pleasure at having accomplished the task.

[John McVey]

Now that I remember, there was a recent (and possibly on-going) hoo-haa about economics happiness research being grossly biassed against capitalism. I am not motivated enough to go research it, but others might. It wouldn't surprise me - though I am not actually making an accusation - if this article was published with that crud in mind.

JJM

[aequalsa]

Now that I remember, there was a recent (and possibly on-going) hoo-haa about economics happiness research being grossly biassed against capitalism. I am not motivated enough to go research it, but others might. It wouldn't surprise me - though I am not actually making an accusation - if this article was published with that crud in mind.

JJM

Regardless of their intentions, they are jumping to a conclusion based on their personal bias. At best it's sloppy science.

We could watch a victim of an armed robbery under an MRI and they would probably get a spike once the armed robber left. That doesn't mean they like being robbed. It's embarrassing that someone could get an advanced degree in science with these critical thinking skills.