4 ms·
This assumes that we’re somehow morally superior to those that have gone before us.
by xkde 7y ago
This assumes that we’re somehow morally superior to those that have gone before us.
- JadeNB 7y agoNo it doesn't …? It just says that nowadays we are less consciously entranced by iron and can more easily get our hands on it, so we don't need to kill people for the comparatively minuscule amount in their blood.
- xkde 7y ago> so we don't need to kill people for the comparatively minuscule amount in their blood You’re sure that’s what would have happened then?
- JadeNB 7y agoNo, I'm not iscrewyou (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21349665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21349665). I doubt that I buy that it would happen, but I think that saying it would is just being mistaken, not engaging in some sort of claim to moral superiority.
- xkde 7y agoI agree in that it is probably largely just a case of being mistaken. However, comments like that often carry an implicit, “those horrible ancient civilizations” context embedded within them. There’s an idea that knowledge (science, economics, technology, etc) and morality are intrinsically linked when in fact, they’re orthogonal.
- iscrewyou 7y agoBecause I didn’t mention “those great ancient civilizations” doesn’t imply that I mean the opposite. Any history book will show you the atrocities committed by humans against each other for false reasons that today we say to “how could they?” I was simply engaging in a philosophical question of what if.
- crpatino 7y agoIf I may... > Any history book will show you... And any newspaper will show you the atrocities committed by contemporary humans against each other, for false reasons that out forefathers would have said "how could they [not learn a single damn thing we taught them]?" The fact that we do not share their biases do not make our behavior any better, nor our excuses any less petty, dumb or self-serving. And rest asured that our descendants will judge us just as harshly as we judge today those that came before us. Such is human nature.
- crpatino 7y agoAnyone trying to extract tangible amounts of iron from hemoglobine is an utter imbecile. It cannot be done now with modern technology and fossil fuels (after all, we do not see abattoirs selling their blood by-products to the steel industry), much less under the restrictions of a pre-industrial society. Contrary to the GP opinion, ancient people were not dumber than dirt. Any ruler stupid enough to try anything like that on the scale suggested would not remain a ruler for long. People would revolt, oportunistic leutenants would organize a coup, neighbouring rules would seize the chance and invade. But more importantly, the ruler thenselve would refrain from pursuing this atrocity. The fact that he was a ruler would imply a modicum of competence. Even if he was amoral enough to try, he would stop trying after the first thousand murders turned barely enough iron to cast a hatchet. After all, the tributes that village would have produced during the first year alone would be overwhelmly more valuable.