But hey, instead of killing everyone, eugenics could lead us to a beautiful stratified future, like depicted in the aspirational sci-fi utopia of Brave New World!
I agree with you, ultimately. My point is just that “good for humanity vs bad for humanity” isn’t a debate, there’s no “We want to ruin humanity” party. Most people see their own viewpoint as being best for humanity, unless they’re a psychopath or a nihilist.
There are fundamental differences in political views as well as ethical beliefs, and any attempt to boil them down to “good for humanity” vs “bad for humanity” is going to be inherently political. I think “what’s best for humanity” is a good guiding metric to determine what one finds ethical, but using it to categorize others’ political beliefs is going to be divisive at best.
In other words, it’s not comparable to the left/right axis, which may be insufficient and one-dimensional, but at least it describes something that can be somewhat objective (if controversial and ill-defined). Someone can be happy with their position on the axis. Whereas if it were good/bad, everyone would place themselves at Maximum Good, therefore it’s not really useful or comparable to the left/right paradigm.
But I try to think things as objectively as possible and hope others would too (but dont expect it).
No one probably thinks what they are doing is wrong or at least try to find justification for it, objectively there are things that cause good or bad things regardless of your intentions. While good results don’t excuse evil actions, bad results are still bad results regardless of your intentions. Its ok to try even if there are risks, but one should always consider if the risks outweigh the results. And sometimes even if everything goes according to plan, it might still cause things to happen you end up regretting and it would have been better for everyone if you had thought it more.
That is what i wish people thought more instead of limiting themselves to just political things and easy terms. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who is in power but what it causes.
But hey, instead of killing everyone, eugenics could lead us to a beautiful stratified future, like depicted in the aspirational sci-fi utopia of Brave New World!
I agree with you, ultimately. My point is just that “good for humanity vs bad for humanity” isn’t a debate, there’s no “We want to ruin humanity” party. Most people see their own viewpoint as being best for humanity, unless they’re a psychopath or a nihilist.
There are fundamental differences in political views as well as ethical beliefs, and any attempt to boil them down to “good for humanity” vs “bad for humanity” is going to be inherently political. I think “what’s best for humanity” is a good guiding metric to determine what one finds ethical, but using it to categorize others’ political beliefs is going to be divisive at best.
In other words, it’s not comparable to the left/right axis, which may be insufficient and one-dimensional, but at least it describes something that can be somewhat objective (if controversial and ill-defined). Someone can be happy with their position on the axis. Whereas if it were good/bad, everyone would place themselves at Maximum Good, therefore it’s not really useful or comparable to the left/right paradigm.
You are right.
But I try to think things as objectively as possible and hope others would too (but dont expect it).
No one probably thinks what they are doing is wrong or at least try to find justification for it, objectively there are things that cause good or bad things regardless of your intentions. While good results don’t excuse evil actions, bad results are still bad results regardless of your intentions. Its ok to try even if there are risks, but one should always consider if the risks outweigh the results. And sometimes even if everything goes according to plan, it might still cause things to happen you end up regretting and it would have been better for everyone if you had thought it more.
That is what i wish people thought more instead of limiting themselves to just political things and easy terms. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who is in power but what it causes.