Deferring to Bernard Mandeville whose opinion on selfishness supersedes mine (and precedes every other person’s):
“Fools only strive To make a Great an Honest Hive T’ enjoy the World’s Conveniencies, Be fam’d in War, yet live in Ease, Without great Vices, is a vain Eutopia seated in the Brain.“
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” — Adam Smith (“The Wealth of Nations”, 1776)
Selflessness is believing “the ends justify the means.” When you do not want an outcome (e.g., nuclear winter) to happen—so badly—that you justify any method to prevent it (e.g., hijack a rocket and fly suicide mission carrying a nuclear bomb into the sun!) you’re saying that your judgment is right and supersedes every other person’s opinion—including Dr. GRU’s.
Deferring to Bernard Mandeville whose opinion on selfishness supersedes mine (and precedes every other person’s):
“Fools only strive To make a Great an Honest Hive T’ enjoy the World’s Conveniencies, Be fam’d in War, yet live in Ease, Without great Vices, is a vain Eutopia seated in the Brain.“
— Bernard Mandeville (“The Grumbling Hive”, 1705)
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” — Adam Smith (“The Wealth of Nations”, 1776)
Selflessness is believing “the ends justify the means.” When you do not want an outcome (e.g., nuclear winter) to happen—so badly—that you justify any method to prevent it (e.g., hijack a rocket and fly suicide mission carrying a nuclear bomb into the sun!) you’re saying that your judgment is right and supersedes every other person’s opinion—including Dr. GRU’s.
Is there anything more selfless than that?