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> It feels good to say stuff like that, and it's the kind of reality I want to live in, but my whole point is: I think the opposite is true. It is gratifying t

> It feels good to say stuff like that, and it's the kind of reality I want to live in, but my whole point is: I think the opposite is true. It is gratifying to the logical mind to process this event through the lens of pedantic philosophical analysis, but in real life most things aren't so ambiguous and they definitely aren't ambiguous in this case. > Define innocent In this context I define innocent as "undeserving of abrupt and violent execution". > Define political In this context I define political as "of or with regard to government or government policy". > Define evil In this context I define evil as "a profoundly immoral act". Seems pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, I don't have time to read the story you linked (though it does seem interesting even though I am generally not a fan of yudkowsky's writings), but if you want to summarize it I don't mind addressing that summary.

kbenson 8y ago
> In this context I define innocent as "undeserving of abrupt and violent execution". Okay, you've traded innocent for undeserving. That doesn't feel any more definitive to me. Who's undeserving? > In this context I define political as "of or with regard to government or government policy". Governments are made up of the people. If they aren't enslaved, then they have some responsibility for the action of said government. It's one group of people doing something to another group. Whether it's from some government or not is irrelevant. For example, is not a non-government group advocating for the eradication of a subgroup of people evil in your reasoning? That's not political in any way. > In this context I define evil as "a profoundly immoral act". You've already stated morality is relative in your first comment. You're relying on a relative assessment to claim something as universal. > Seems pretty straightforward. It seems fairly shaky to me.

kbenson 8y ago

> In this context I define innocent as "undeserving of abrupt and violent execution". Okay, you've traded innocent for undeserving. That doesn't feel any more definitive to me. Who's undeserving? > In this context I define political as "of or with regard to government or government policy". Governments are made up of the people. If they aren't enslaved, then they have some responsibility for the action of said government. It's one group of people doing something to another group. Whether it's from some government or not is irrelevant. For example, is not a non-government group advocating for the eradication of a subgroup of people evil in your reasoning? That's not political in any way. > In this context I define evil as "a profoundly immoral act". You've already stated morality is relative in your first comment. You're relying on a relative assessment to claim something as universal. > Seems pretty straightforward. It seems fairly shaky to me.