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If you were watching a building go up in flames due to arson, exasperated by faulty construction and you knew there were people inside you could save what would

If you were watching a building go up in flames due to arson, exasperated by faulty construction and you knew there were people inside you could save what would you do? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't just say "It's their own fault for living there and it's also the construction company's fault for not carrying out safety tests. Let them burn because intervening now will only let the construction company & tenants off the hook - they all should have known better."

wand3r 9y ago
I dislike this analogy as I hold human life in a much higher regard. If you replace people with something like "property with no sentimental value" then the anology would be closer, but still imperfect. In that analogy, I would give pause but "letting it burn" would be much more palatable.
nkrisc 9y ago
No, but we're not talking about human lives. We're talking about an ecosystem that is, as I understand, built on the premise that code is law. I may be mistaken.
Perseids 9y ago
No harm to any sentient being was caused by the unintended DAO usage ("hack"). A more apt comparison would be: Someone found a flaw in my distributed MMORPG and now the game isn't interesting / useful anymore to some people. Should we collectively change the rules, even though we previously committed to not doing so? And before you say "Ethereum is no game", consider how serious some people take their gaming worlds and how much resources (time and money) they invest.
gst 9y ago
That's essentially what happens in real life in some places: Don't pay for the fire department (although you should have known better) and in case of a fire the fire department will protect your neighbor's house, but will watch as your house burns to the ground: http://www.kfvs12.com/story/13281481/fire-chief-responds-to-burning-questions-after-home-left-to-burn http://www.kfvs12.com/story/13281481/fire-chief-responds-to-...
- dmoy 9y ago
  Worth noting that it doesn't work like that for the overwhelming majority of residences in the US. Only places where you have to pay a specific fire subscription.

wand3r 9y ago

I dislike this analogy as I hold human life in a much higher regard. If you replace people with something like "property with no sentimental value" then the anology would be closer, but still imperfect. In that analogy, I would give pause but "letting it burn" would be much more palatable.

nkrisc 9y ago

No, but we're not talking about human lives. We're talking about an ecosystem that is, as I understand, built on the premise that code is law. I may be mistaken.

Perseids 9y ago

No harm to any sentient being was caused by the unintended DAO usage ("hack"). A more apt comparison would be: Someone found a flaw in my distributed MMORPG and now the game isn't interesting / useful anymore to some people. Should we collectively change the rules, even though we previously committed to not doing so? And before you say "Ethereum is no game", consider how serious some people take their gaming worlds and how much resources (time and money) they invest.

gst 9y ago

That's essentially what happens in real life in some places: Don't pay for the fire department (although you should have known better) and in case of a fire the fire department will protect your neighbor's house, but will watch as your house burns to the ground: http://www.kfvs12.com/story/13281481/fire-chief-responds-to-burning-questions-after-home-left-to-burn http://www.kfvs12.com/story/13281481/fire-chief-responds-to-...

dmoy 9y ago
Worth noting that it doesn't work like that for the overwhelming majority of residences in the US. Only places where you have to pay a specific fire subscription.