Benevolism Test Quiz

Actually written MAY 22, 2006

Message originating from Luke Turner

$100.00 reward for information leading to my acquaintance with people who score highly on the enclosed, 10 question quiz. Prize goes to the chronologically first person in a successful chain of leads who supplies fruitful information. If a single lead chain produces my acquaintance with multiple high-scorers, prize increases by half of previous prize increase: $100.00 for 1 high-scorer, $150.00 for 2, $175.00 for 3, and so on.

Qualifying scores are by my personal judgment until I become confident in the quiz as a reliable measure. You can help me gain such confidence by taking the quiz yourself. If I happen to know you, your scores will help me measure the predictive accuracy of the quiz. (And be assured that high-scores, although rare, do exist. My sister-in-law is one of them.)

Clues: Look for people who are inclined to work in nursing or theraputic professions, and who nurture their intellects. Look for unpopular people who appear to have little to say in social settings. Any more clues may make it too easy to fake a high score. So no more.

Submit scores to me via E-mail at Lukon100@hotmail.com or through my MySpace or Friendster inbox. Simply list the question numbers and the corresponding letters for the given answers. But also indicate the revision number of the quiz. The revision number for the enclosed quiz is 01.

And stay tuned. I may up the reward for this as time goes on. Plus I may create more challenging reward offers up to $8000.00 (that's right, eight-thousand dollars) involving this same quiz.

QUIZ REVISION 01

In the following question, the term "contradiction" means, "a claim that something both is and is not in exactly the same way, in the same context, at the same time."

QUESTION 01:

If you are describing your most important beliefs to someone and you encounter and acknowledge a contradiction in what you describe, how likely are you to tell this someone, in all seriousness, that "contradictions are OK"?

A: Very likely. You do believe contradictions are just fine, even necessary.

B: Somewhat likely. It depends on your mood.

C: Unknown. You don't know what you'd do.

D: Rather unlikely. Contradictions frequently bother you.

E: Never. Contradictions destroy all meaning.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 02:

In the following question, the terms "moral" or "morality" mean, "viewing behavior as justified by things other than desires or aversions." The term "benevolence" means, "The desire to have other people's desires gratified." The term "malevolence" means, "The desire to have other people's desires frustrated."

Even if you regard yourself as both moral and benevolent, it's more important for you to interpret the way you treat others in terms of ...

A: ... doing the right or wrong moral thing.

B: ... motivated by your benevolence or malevolence.

C: ... both morality and motivation because you don't understand the distinction intended here.

D: ... both morality and motivation because you don't care about the distinction intended here.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 03:

When it comes to material and capital goods on this planet, you most closely believe ...

A: ... they could exist in abundance sufficient to satisfy everyone if it weren't for greedy rich folk who horde more than "their share".

B: ... they could exist in abundance sufficient to satisfy everyone if entrepreneur folk were free to create super-abundance and let the surplus "trickle down" to the rest of us.

C: ... it's not important whether goods shall ever exist in universal abundance. It is only important that we distribute what exists according to who earned it via their own productivity.

D: ... it's not important whether goods shall ever exist in universal abundance. It is only important that we distribute what exists according to who needs it most desperately.

E: ... they are scarce and we insatiable humans will never create abundance under any conditions.

F: ... that likely it's not possible to know, with certainty, whether universal abundance can ever be achieved, nor by what means, nor whether it is useful to all people. But achieving it is worth a shot, and it may be wise to try several methods.

G: ... they are not important and the only true concerns are matters of the non-material spirit.

H: … they already do exist in sufficient abundance, and appearances to the contrary are a socially constructed illusion.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 04:

Even if you'd like to see such wishes come true, you believe that wishing for what cannot be, or what is very unlikely, to a degree that one's life becomes largely miserable is ...

A: ... stupid, foolish, contemptible. Such fools get no sympathy from you.

B: ... stupid, foolish. Such fools get at least some sympathy from you, but also some well-meaning admonishment.

C: ... something you've never thought much about and don't have an opinion on.

D: ... tragic, but not necessarily stupid or foolish.

E: ... tragic, and quite possibly associated with a passion or emotional integrity you can admire or at least respect.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 05:

Which of the following theories of knowledge/truth/reality would you suspect accommodates the most consistent and sincere benevolence in those who believe them? (Remember, the question is not whether these beliefs promote or cause more benevolence, but whether they accommodate the most benevolence or, pose fewest obstacles to benevolence. It helps to pretend that none of them promote benevolence, but some will make room for a bigger benevolence than others.)

A: Relativism. Relativism makes it possible, perhaps even necessary, to validate the widest variances in accounts of truth and reality, such that the greatest number of people can enjoy regarding themselves as "right" and/or "good." (Mutual Gift Fantasy Benevolence)

B: Realism. Realism avoids the hazards of fantasy, nonsensical or contradictory thinking; allowing effective solutions to the problems of human suffering and frustration. (Reality Harmony Benevolence)

C: Pragmatism. Pragmatism allows its believer the ultimate in flexibility about truth and reality in general, making into policy the practice of mixing relativism and realism (and anything else) to foster the most benevolence possible. (Eclectic Schizo-Benevolence)

D: Undecided. It is not clear under which belief system benevolence can achieve its greatest personal consistency and magnitude.

E: This question is messing too much with your head and you want to skip it.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 06:

In cases where options A and B below conflict, which of all the options would you wish for others?:

A: That other people are happy.

B: That other people believe what is true.

C: Both, because you don't believe A and B can actually conflict for anyone.

D: It would depend on whether and for how long A could be sustained without B. In other words, First A until A begins to decay. Then just enough of B as required to restore and sustain A. (Happiness goal mix)

E: It would depend on whether and for how long B could be sustained without A. In other words, First B until B begins to decay. Then just enough of A as required to restore and sustain B. (Truth goal mix)

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 07:

In cases where options A and B below conflict, which of all the options would you wish for yourself

(Red pill or Blue pill?)

A: That you are happy. (Blue pill)

B: That you believe what is true. (Red pill)

C: Both, because you don't believe A and B can actually conflict for you. (Red pill and be happy trying to overthrow the matrix)

D: It would depend on whether and for how long A could be sustained without B. In other words, First A until A begins to decay. Then just enough of B as required to restore and sustain A. (Happiness goal mix)

E: It would depend on whether and for how long B could be sustained without A. In other words, First B until B begins to decay. Then just enough of A as required to restore and sustain B. (Truth goal mix)

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 08:

In cases where you are deeply hurt by another's false belief about you, yet telling them the truth would hurt them more, which would you wish for them?

A: That they remain wrong about you, yet unhurt.

B: That they learn the truth about you, and suffer for it.

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 09:

Joe is a serial killer; he gets the greatest pleasure from killing other people and does so with a vicious glee. He's never killed anyone you know. You've never actually met him and he's safely incarcerated. Which of the following best describes your benevolence or malevolence towards Joe?

A: Because Joe is significantly malevolent, you have no benevolence at all for Joe, but only malevolence. You want Joe to suffer significant pain and frustration generally, as punishment. (General Retaliatory Malevolence)

B: Because Joe is significantly malevolent, you have no benevolence for Joe, but wish only to frustrate his desire to kill so that only his killer malevolence is selectively punished. (Targeted Retaliatory Malevolence)

C: Since Joe's malevolence is an un-natural perversion of his otherwise natural benevolence, you want to have his perversion cured through therapy, if possible. (Motivation Invalidation)

D: Joe's malevolence is natural and honest, but caused by developmental trauma that distorts his knowledge. In other words, his malevolence is perfectly valid given the information of which he's been deprived by the trauma. You want to have his trauma removed, his information normalized and therewith his malevolence undone through therapy, if possible. (Cause Speculative, Cure Suggestive Benevolence)

E: C or D, whatever therapy might work for whatever reasons. (Reform Benevolence)

F: You wish Joe could be allowed to enjoy killing people, but you don't want people to be killed against their will. And both are not possible. One must win while the other must lose. And your bias against the malevolence of others prompts you to favor Joe as loser. You reluctantly vote that Joe goes to prison and/or gets reformed. (Conflicted Benevolence, Malevolent Agent Suppression)

G: While prison and/or therapy are the only practical answers for Joe, you wish he could be hooked up to a virtual reality machine where he could enjoy the delusion that he's actually killing people. ("VR Solution" Benevolence)

H: Some mix of F and G.

I: Your feelings of benevolence and malevolence are irrelevant. Joe is morally evil and must be punished. (Deference to Morality)

J: Joe may kill. You may be his victim. Life and death go on. (Detachment Apathy)

Z: Essay answer:

QUESTION 10:

Observing that suffering is experienced and made evident through sense perception, you believe that relief from such suffering must come from ...

A: ... phenomena that are also evident through sense perception. (Equivalent Solution Level, Secular Compassion)

B: ... phenomena that are not evident through sense perception, such as God, angels, gia spirit, etc. (In-equivalent Solution Level, Mystical Compassion)

C: ... detachment from desires generally. (Transcendental Apathy Compassion)

D: ... phenomena acceptable to the people in question, whether or not evident through sense perception, whether or not involving detachment from desires. (Target Compatible Compassion)

E: ... a radical cultural re-interpretation of the state we now call "suffering" such that it is no longer a problem for the persons in question. I.e., get everyone to call suffering something else which is good, and it will become good. (In-equivalent Solution Level, Evidence Undercutting, Linguistic Idealism Compassion)

Z: Essay answer: