Envy and Evil

Interintellect Maybe Gray and special guest Qiaochu Yuan invite you to explore the interconnections between the experience of envy and the concept of evil.

Sometimes we recognize that we have encountered injustice in the world and maybe some of the occasions upon which we blame this injustice on something called “Evil” we are correct.

Sometimes, though, it seems we encounter circumstances in the world and call them unjust and blame them on Evil when no injustice or Evil is at work. These mistakes are often subconsciously chosen as lesser evils (pun intended) when otherwise we may have to acknowledge and experience socially unacceptable emotions – like envy.

Certainly, envy is an unflattering emotion. It’s no wonder that we generally, deep down, prefer to consciously experience envy as something more defensible like judgment or anger, etc. But what does it cost us to be willfully blind to the parts of ourselves that are envious? How do we limit ourselves when we refuse to acknowledge that we want what others have but lack the self-efficacy to pursue it? Are we able to separate the anger we righteously feel from the anger we feel so we do not feel our own envy?

In this salon, we will explore those questions as well as questions like:

• Does real Evil exist or do all references to evil miss something important?
• What are the differences between Evil and Privilege?
• Why is envy ugly?
• Can envy be morally justified or righteous?
• What are the differences between envy and other emotions such as greed, jealousy, disgust, and judgment?
• What are the consequences of envy compared to the consequences of sublimating envy?
• How do political polarization, privilege, and cancel culture intersect with these interconnections between Evil and Envy?

Check these out before the salon!

• Contrapoints on Envy
• Contrapoints on Incels
• QC’s $100K Acid Baby tweets
• Eigenrobot on the Oppression of Billionaires
• Existential Kink’s Carolyn Elliott on Havingness Levels
• Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander

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