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Part of me thinks that this guy is a hero but my cynical side thinks that maybe he can get more out of the situation in the long term (in terms of reputation an

Part of me thinks that this guy is a hero but my cynical side thinks that maybe he can get more out of the situation in the long term (in terms of reputation and future clients/contracts) by turning down the money (given that this news has worldwide coverage). Regardless of the motivation though; I think this move is good for society and sends the right message.

varjag 10y ago
8M is some serious cash, and this story will be forgotten next week. There's no need to put down people taking moral decisions. Cynicism is exactly the thing perpetuating problems like this, resist that in yourself.
- jondubois 10y ago
  Unfortunately, cynicism works. The cynical view is almost always the correct view. Every small success I've had in my life was won through the power of cynicism. For any event, if I have two possible explanations to choose from: a) A simple, pure, altruistic explanation or b) A complex, contrived 'evil' explanation I believe 'b' by default; unless there is sufficient proof to show otherwise. It needs to be reasonable proof, not consensus - Consensus means nothing; just look at all the different religions that exist - We know for sure that at least some of them must be wrong even though they have millions or billions of followers. I agree 100% though that it's a shame that the media doesn't do more write ups on these kinds of events - Reading the article, I also have the gut feeling that this is the kind of news which will be forgotten tomorrow. This is terrible when you consider that this article is actually pretty interesting/noteworthy in itself but also because it could lead to a lot of even more interesting articles (which will probably never be published unfortunately). Even lottery winners get better news coverage than this.
  - ianamartin 10y ago
    You keep using that word. . . . Cynicism has nothing to do with complexity or evil or contrivance. It's the belief that people are fundamentally motivated by self-interest. That's ethically neutral, at worst (best?). And it's also demonstrably false if you pay any attention to economics. It's not really easy to tell what does actually motivate people, but self-interest isn't it.
  - varjag 10y ago
    Cynicism works, but not for the bearer. Cynical people are easy to manipulate, their smug worldview notwithstanding. "Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us." - Stephen Colbert

varjag 10y ago

8M is some serious cash, and this story will be forgotten next week. There's no need to put down people taking moral decisions. Cynicism is exactly the thing perpetuating problems like this, resist that in yourself.

jondubois 10y ago
Unfortunately, cynicism works. The cynical view is almost always the correct view. Every small success I've had in my life was won through the power of cynicism. For any event, if I have two possible explanations to choose from: a) A simple, pure, altruistic explanation or b) A complex, contrived 'evil' explanation I believe 'b' by default; unless there is sufficient proof to show otherwise. It needs to be reasonable proof, not consensus - Consensus means nothing; just look at all the different religions that exist - We know for sure that at least some of them must be wrong even though they have millions or billions of followers. I agree 100% though that it's a shame that the media doesn't do more write ups on these kinds of events - Reading the article, I also have the gut feeling that this is the kind of news which will be forgotten tomorrow. This is terrible when you consider that this article is actually pretty interesting/noteworthy in itself but also because it could lead to a lot of even more interesting articles (which will probably never be published unfortunately). Even lottery winners get better news coverage than this.
- ianamartin 10y ago
  You keep using that word. . . . Cynicism has nothing to do with complexity or evil or contrivance. It's the belief that people are fundamentally motivated by self-interest. That's ethically neutral, at worst (best?). And it's also demonstrably false if you pay any attention to economics. It's not really easy to tell what does actually motivate people, but self-interest isn't it.
- varjag 10y ago
  Cynicism works, but not for the bearer. Cynical people are easy to manipulate, their smug worldview notwithstanding. "Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us." - Stephen Colbert