My topic "morality" spurred a series of articles by a writer acquaintance in Southern California who went on to cover human nature, business, high frequency trading and the culture of Wall Street. Here’s the first two articles. What do you think – agree, disagree, a little of both..?
Humans, Human Nature, and Amoral Behavior Considered
Courtesy of Lance Winslow
Any citizen philosopher must keep their minds going, and that means they always need new topics, myself included. This of course, is a thought in and of itself, but I’d like you to consider a different topic, one which was presented to me the other day by an acquaintance from Washington. We were to begin a new dialogue and thus, I said; "pick a topic!"
And she said; "Want a topic – how about morality? How much is biological and how much is environmental (by the framing of the question, you can see I think it’s a bit of both)?"
Okay so, let’s talk about this, is morality both a biological (nature) and an environmental (nurture) issue, is it a combination? We know that amoral behavior has a lot to do with your group of friends, such as kids in gangs in the inner cities of the US. We also realize that the people you associate with will change your level of integrity, and what is acceptable behavior in your life.
Now then when we put forth the concept and question of Nature vs. Nurture, we get into a challenge right away. It is human nature to do less and get more, using that large brain (comparatively speaking in relation to other Earth Mammals) to strategize to fulfill its needs (Maslow, for instance). It could be considered amoral in human terms for a person to allow their pet cat to climb a tree and eat baby birds or eat the eggs. And yet, this is their innate nature, we should expect it.
If one species steals the eggs of another, it is stealing, right? If you take someone’s property you are stealing. Yet, humans have been taking what they will for their entire evolutionary process. Again, this is philosophy, not justification for stealing, just attempting to show how nature plays a part in human ethics and behavior.
On another nature issue, humans are competitive, many look for the sound and fury, challenge, and as Vince Lombardi says, the most competitive folks seek out the most competitive games. Such as, unfortunately, politics, stock market, war, etc. This causes the morality thing to lose its checks and balances in our society (what we accept as ethical behavior), especially when folks are rewarded for being amoral and taking risks, such as the risk of not getting caught.
Everything from risk taking with Tiger Woods, John Edwards, and Elliot Spitzer to the questionable practices on Wall Street – risk taking is human nature too, and so is competitiveness. These issues can cause challenges with morality. Again, we are not attempting to excuse amoral behavior, but we ought to understand that there are naturistic human drivers, that are definitely part of the human make-up.
Sometimes when nature and nurture combine, humans can do some of the most cruel, ruthless, and amoral activities. History proves this. My question is what will you do to check your own morality when such time comes in your life?
Can We Prevent Amoral Behavior for Our Civilization?
Everyone knows that ethical behavior is important for humans to get along in the community, whether it is the global community, or your local town. Yes, morality is paramount for a stable society. And I fear that we are losing control in our civilization due to the unethical nature of people in so many professions, government positions, and in our general population.
What happens when there are no laws to prevent someone from trying some new scheme on Wall Street, something that will fully enrich those who get involved in the game early on, but will surely cause havoc in the future when everyone else starts doing the same? Case in point–High Frequency Trading.
I question the "High Frequency" trading where companies put super computers in buildings which sit on top of Internet Hubs with massive fiber optic lines, as how does that help the funding of our companies, after all the stock market wasn’t supposed to be a gambling casino, it was created as a way to capitalize American Businesses.
The stock market was not built so a few could steal the wealth of a nation by tricking the system. We have laws against Las Vegas casinos manipulating the gambler, and against gamblers cheating the casinos. But apparently, it’s somehow considered "okay" to do this on Wall Street. How can that possibly be fair, and why should anyone be allowed to scrape the cream off the top of such a system in that way?
It’s not just here, it happens around the world. I see this gambling effect on the Shanghai Index as well. Now that the Chinese are allowing derivative trading, shorting, and other types of trades. These practices are unfair to the individual who is trying to invest their portfolio, who may have buy or sell trades pending. Why is it legal?
These high-frequency systems sweep up boat loads of pennies, within seconds, over and over again. Whether it is arbitraging currency trades or playing stocks. Where is the morality in stealing the top of the float? Those involved have already crashed currencies and "Flash Crashed" major stock exchanges. We may now agree that the HFT world needs regulation, but this is after the fact, and just prior to the next scheme. In essence, our markets cannot be trusted, the game is rigged, and cheaters and manipulators will continue forever and a day to out think and get around the rules.
We cannot regulate morality, and Wall Street has turned into a gambling casino. This does not serve American business capitalization, which is the purpose for stock markets and exchanges in the first place. How can anyone plan their future savings in a game like that?
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See also: NYT: Speedy New Traders Makes Waves Far from Wall Street and Once More For Emphasis: SOMEONE INVENTED A MONEY MACHINE.
Top picture: Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice (1485-90). Second picture by Jr. Deputy Accountant.
