If freethinking is a prerequisite for going against the status quo, and practically anything is better than the status quo, then don’t be surprised when people behaving better than the status quo are all freethinkers. The fact that freethinkers went in the ‘right’ direction against the status quo is unremarkable* to the extent that the status quo was ‘wrong’.
As for freethinking causing better morality: here is a freethinker who acted under a sense of personal moral duty, facing harsh consequences for little personal gain.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t bring up freethinkers—just that in isolation, this study doesn’t make make the decision a slam dunk, despite the superficially impressive “21 times” figure.
*EDIT- Potential ambiguity: By unremarkable I mean the evidence provided by the study shouldn’t have much of an effect on your prior of ‘freethinking makes better citizens’. I don’t mean it as “of course you’d expect freethinkers to be better citizens!”.
Ah, I misunderstood you: I thought you were suggesting the possibility that free-thinkers wouldn’t be motivated to rebel at all without a sufficiently offensive status quo, not that they might do it in an unexpected direction.
Regarding Kaczynski, while he’s certainly an example of society-unfriendly morality, I suspect we would still be a lot better off if everyone had the willpower to go that far, if necessary, in pursue of their concept of greater good. In other words, the damage Kaczynski did arose from the combination of zealous nonconformism and a deeply flawed analysis of his environment. But if you gifted everyone, at least in the First World, with the same zealous nonconformism, they would on average pair it with an analysis not nearly as twisted as that presented in the Manifesto. The result, I think, would be a world with a lot more conflict but also with a dramatically improved rate of progress.
If freethinking is a prerequisite for going against the status quo, and practically anything is better than the status quo, then don’t be surprised when people behaving better than the status quo are all freethinkers. The fact that freethinkers went in the ‘right’ direction against the status quo is unremarkable* to the extent that the status quo was ‘wrong’.
As for freethinking causing better morality: here is a freethinker who acted under a sense of personal moral duty, facing harsh consequences for little personal gain.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t bring up freethinkers—just that in isolation, this study doesn’t make make the decision a slam dunk, despite the superficially impressive “21 times” figure.
*EDIT- Potential ambiguity: By unremarkable I mean the evidence provided by the study shouldn’t have much of an effect on your prior of ‘freethinking makes better citizens’. I don’t mean it as “of course you’d expect freethinkers to be better citizens!”.
Ah, I misunderstood you: I thought you were suggesting the possibility that free-thinkers wouldn’t be motivated to rebel at all without a sufficiently offensive status quo, not that they might do it in an unexpected direction.
Regarding Kaczynski, while he’s certainly an example of society-unfriendly morality, I suspect we would still be a lot better off if everyone had the willpower to go that far, if necessary, in pursue of their concept of greater good. In other words, the damage Kaczynski did arose from the combination of zealous nonconformism and a deeply flawed analysis of his environment. But if you gifted everyone, at least in the First World, with the same zealous nonconformism, they would on average pair it with an analysis not nearly as twisted as that presented in the Manifesto. The result, I think, would be a world with a lot more conflict but also with a dramatically improved rate of progress.