A good person is both responsive and responsible — she both pays attention to her surroundings (reacting appropriately to events) and follows her inner compass (doing what's right in her judgment). That dualism is important. People have to look outward and inward to succeed in life.
There's a nice parallel in the results of applied game theory, where the simple "Tit for Tat" algorithm does astoundingly well in prisoners-dilemma situations. "Tit for Tat" is responsive: it changes its behavior according to what the opponent does. It's also responsible: it never is the first to betray a trust. The result is a robust and powerful strategy.
(see TitForTat)
Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 05:50:12 (EST) = 2000-02-10
(correlates: TitForTat, WhatPhysicsIs, MemorySupport, ...)