X-Message-Number: 30763 From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: Goodbye 'economic man' (was: Re: the case for increased brocc... Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 13:44:52 +0200 References: <> On 24 May 2008, at 19:30, wrote: > [Doctors recommend greater fruit and vegetable intake to reduce > disease > risk, while their patients routinely disregard this recommendation. > It is > apparent that only so much produce is going to be consumed no matter > what > doctors say. Perhaps a more practical recommendation might be to > consume > more of certain specific health promoting fruits and vegetables, and > less of > other fruits and vegetables would do not possess health promoting > attributes. Social policy in the US has led to 'food deserts', where most vegetables are not readily available. While this primarily effects the poor, a change in policy would likely lead to a dramatic changes in overall morbidity and mortality, measured on a population wide basis. So would a change in economic policy, which has led to widespread starvation, both within the US and worldwide. This policy is based on an outdated model of 'economic man', a man motivated only by self interest: <http://www.in-mind.org/social-psychology-headlines/not-all-decisions-are-in-the-pursuit-of-self-int.html > Not All Decisions Are In the Pursuit of Self Interest This evidence now includes brain scans, which identify the structures responsible for group-oriented rewards. <http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/508/1?rss=1> Your Brain on Ethics So, neo-liberalism, libertarianism, objectivism, and other systems of thought based upon selfishness as the only human motive can now be dismissed for what they are: propaganda. dss David Stodolsky Skype: davidstodolsky Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30763