Computer Science

Opinion | Goodness

Vernon Kerr

Oct 5, 2020 — 2 min read

(c) 2020 Vernon Miles Kerr, VernonMilesKerr.com, WritersClass.net

Is Goodness for wimps? Is Goodness “relative”? Can acts be attributed to Goodness in one context but not in another? Is there a spirit of Goodness, infusing some people, but not others? Or is Goodness merely one quality of a normal, healthy human mind? I believe it is, but the operative word is “healthy.” Mental and/or social “health” is another relative judgment call — but there are some physical concepts, that can help.

Curiously, Sigmund Freud’s ideas and the design of the UNIX computer operating system — used by the Apple MacIntosh and by large Industrial networks — both apply to human Goodness, in that they both have a layered approach. Freud was on the right track with his Id, Ego, and Superego.

The UNIX Operating System, from the core outward — primitive to complex

The Id is the lizard brain. (UNIX’s Hardware layer.) The Id is our mechanical, knee-jerk self-protective, self-aggrandizing layer. Eating, reproducing…
The Ego: Where Self-awareness and awareness of others commingle to form personality. (UNIX’s Kernel andShells, which handle input & output)
The Superego: The social layer, the safety-dependent group-affiliation layer where culture & manners reside.(UNIX’s Utilities/Applications layer)

The Superego is where Goodness lives. It’s the safe-place where humanity as a species rises or falls. An individual can basically “exist”with only layers 1 & 2 but Goodness cannot. A healthy individual, naturally incorporates layer 3. An unhealthy person such as a sociopath can only feign an association with the Superego level. He or she uses that false-impression, that false-Goodness as camouflage in order to support layers 1 and 2 — in order to promote “self” rather than to promote “humanity.”

For our own self-protection we need to recognize the camouflage, and then structure our interactions with such people. For the protection of humanity, we need to improve delivery of mental-health services and to adopt methods to avoid hiring or electing such people if the position or office being filled potentially puts human lives at risk.

Goodness

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