Put another way: change "a negative path in life" to "a path in life lower by some amount (however small) than what it could have been otherwise", and you'll ha

Put another way: change "a negative path in life" to "a path in life lower by some amount (however small) than what it could have been otherwise", and you'll have an accurate rendition of what I think. Yes, I honestly believe what I said, and I don't think that what I've written below invalidates it (but if it does, please tell me - I'd love to know!) I didn't mean that someone that pirates software as a student is necessarily fated to outright doom, which is implied by "a negative path in life". We all have free will, and can choose to do better (or worse) every time we make a decision. I contend that the consequences of piracy are indeed negative, overall, for that person's selfish interests, long-term. However, the magnitude of that consequence depends on the context. While nothing can make a bad action good (remember that good and bad imply a context), many people are good enough that a few small bad decisions won't destroy them completely. Consider the case of a person that's excellent in all aspects of their life except for one: on Sundays, they travel to a nearby store and write obscene messages on the mirror in the bathroom with a bar of soap. They're still very awesome, happy and successful, but they could be just a little bit better (richer, happier, more well rested, whatever) if they chose to do something else.