On 5/31/2010 8:57 PM, HeyBub wrote:
Peter wrote:


Greed is good? For someone who is talking about what God has given,
and who cites God's production standards, you are probably a
believer. Therefore, you need be more familiar with another of God's
products (according to your belief), known as the Bible. Try reading
it. Specifically the sections of both the Old and New Testament that
characterize greed. I don't think you will find any support for your
position. If you can't read well enough to do that, or if you don't
have the patience or intelligence to teach yourself, go ask a
clergyman. You might learned that the truth is quite the contrary!

"Greed" is mentioned six times in the Hebrew Scriptures (Prov 21:26, Eze
22:12, Ps 17:12, Prov 1:19, 15:27, Is 56:11) and in none of them is greed
condemned. In all cases, greed is mentioned as a characteristic of something
else. You are correct in that greed is not specifically praised - it doesn't
need to be in that it is a product of God's creation.

Quite possibly the New Testament has a different spin - I don't know. I'm
equally in the dark regarding the content of the Newer Testament (the Koran)
and the Newest Testament (Book of Mormon).

In my view, greed is good. Admittedly, greed has to be handled more gingerly
than some other emotions, but it is good.

A more concrete example would be dynamite compared to a bowling ball.
Dynamite has the capacity to do great good when used correctly and terrible
harm when handled improperly. A bowling ball has only an insignificant
possibility of causing harm.

Here's a thought experiment: Imagine yourself standing behind Jonas Salk as
he peered through his microscope. He was motivated to spend many sleepless
nights by the horror of small children in iron lungs, but it's reasonable to
believe he was, in part, motivated by feelings and emotions that many
religious people would consider sinful!

He probably had some ENVY of Sabin, who was getting all the publicity. He
quite possibly HATED the virus he was studying. He was probably seeking
PRIDE in his work and hoping, someday, that people would pat him on the back
and call him a nice guy. And he was probably GREEDY enough to think "If I
can whip this problem, I can get enough money to do the research I want to
do without having to suck up to the bureacrats and fill out interminable
grant applications!"

So, because of these 'despicable' motives (and a lot of altruistic ones),
we've virtually eradicated Polio within your lifetime and mine.

And you can thank "greed" - at least partially.


First of all, the Salk vaccine was first on the market and first used. Quoting
from Wikipedia, "The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952.
Announced to the world by Salk on April 12, 1955, it consists of an injected
dose of inactivated (dead) poliovirus. An oral vaccine was developed by Albert
Sabin using attenuated poliovirus. Human trials of Sabin's vaccine began in 1957
and it was licensed in 1962." If anything, Sabin would have had the motivation
to get some of the recognition that Salk had already received. I had the
opportunity to meet and speak with Dr. Sabin on more than one occasion. It's
sad to see you confuse or conflate greed with altruism.