An Interview with the Most Intelligent Man I Know About Human Nature

Q: Why?
A: There are over 6 billion people on the planet. Atrocities happen every day. A certain detachment or even indifference is necessary for most of us to get through the day. I love and care deeply for a handful of people. Those people's lives are, for the most part, intertwined with my own. I would do anything for those people. My relationship with those close to me, my other relationships and interests occupy a huge portion of my time.

Q: Do you care about anything else?

A: I do care about the poverty and horror under which so many people live as I believe most decent people do however, I also believe that most people expend more emotional energy on their friends divorce than they do on thousands of innocent people killed halfway around the world. There may be something wrong about that but it is humane. We only have time or energy for so much closeness.
Q: If humans are estranged from one another, how do people manage to get along?
A: People get along because it makes life easier for the most part. It may be a evolutionary survival trait. We are often willing to go to war to achieve a perceived benefit, but we are almost always able to make peace before it destroys us.
Part 2:
Q: Do you believe humans are naturally equal?
A: No

Q: Why not?
A: Humans are not equal. Some are smarter, some are faster, some are stronger, more sensitive, compassionate, and some live longer.
Q: If humans are not equal, how do you decide who is superior and who will lead?
A: It is up to society as a whole to provide people with equal rights, protection, and access to opportunity. Affirmative action should be socio-economically based, not racially. Leaders should be chosen by the society in free and open elections where access and agendas are not for sale. Hopefully they will choose a leader who has the best interests of society and the intelligence and vision to do what is right, not some self -serving charismatic power monger.

Q: Why should affirmative action be socio-economically based and not racially?
A: Let me say that I think most if not all affirmative action should take place in the educational arena. It should be socio-economically based because I think poverty is, in the present day, a bigger and more consistent handicap than race. To take it to the extreme: As it stands today, a protected minority with 2 PHD toting parents and an Andover education could, by virtue of there racial status be given extra help when being considered for admission and displace a more qualified 2^nd generation Irish kid who grew up in the worst possible conditions, with parents that never made it past 6^th grade.
Q: How do you know "what is right?"
A: What is right is what ensures or at least works towards during that which improves the lives of the majority of the population to the greatest degree possible while leaving no one behind. Special attention should be paid to ensuring a living wage for all workers and access to health care and excellent education for all.