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I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. You accepted no duty to ensure my life was protected from harm or tha

I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. You accepted no duty to ensure my life was protected from harm or that it's circumstances were fair. You can talk sensibly about global reproductive control once you've ensured that everyone's life is fair and just. Humans are animals. We individually self regulate or we would die. We collectively don't which is why we were able to make things like the internet. Other species that operate under collective terms don't either. They don't seek equilibrium, they are simply hapless victims to it.

whalesalad 3y ago
Animals eat each other. They feed other animals. They spread seeds to propagate plant life. Their decomposing bodies fertilize the earth. There is an ecosystem that exists. Humans don’t have any predators. We’ve created a society where everyone feels entitled to exist. Animals don’t feel entitled to exist. They fight daily to survive. We fight daily to play the game that us humans created. It’s not real, it’s all fabricated: 401k’s, board member seats, search engine optimization, globalization, offshore manufacturing, advertising revenue, taxes, traffic lights, the NFL, American idol, TikTok dances, Prada clothing, Stanley cups, business casual, country clubs. We have created the mess we are in. And there is too much momentum/inertia to shift course. We (as a society) will keep running on this treadmill until we collapse from exhaustion and hubris.
- xpe 3y ago
  > Animals eat each other. They feed other animals. They spread seeds to propagate plant life. Their decomposing bodies fertilize the earth. There is an ecosystem that exists. Humans don’t have any predators. We’ve created a society where everyone feels entitled to exist. Animals don’t feel entitled to exist. They fight daily to survive. We fight daily to play the game that us humans created. It’s not real, it’s all fabricated... This is moral confusion. Nature does not set the ethical standards to which we aspire. See the naturalistic fallacy.
  - whalesalad 3y ago
    These things you mention are honestly more examples of fabricated concepts. Are you a religious person by chance?
    - xpe 3y ago
      There are well-developed branches of ethics that are uncoupled from any religious assumptions. Including systems of ethics that reject various forms of moral relativism.
    - xpe 3y ago
      The term "socially constructed" is well-understood by many, including myself. Your use of "fabricated concepts" is not clear, however. Care to define it?
    - xpe 3y ago
      > These things you mention are honestly more examples of fabricated concepts. Are you a religious person by chance? If you are trying to insult me, you should stop that behavior.
      - whalesalad 3y ago
        I am genuinely not.
        xpe 3y ago
        Ok, thanks. Why did you ask the question of e.g. am I religious? Is there a connection?
- xpe 3y ago
  > We (as a society) will keep running on this treadmill until we collapse from exhaustion and hubris. This is false certainty. You don't know what will happen; you haven't even given a handful of possible future scenarios. Society could go on for some time with rising inequality with tragic consequences, sure. Or we could grow out of this phase in hundreds of different ways. Or we could obliterate ourselves in nuclear war. There are many possibilities. Don't fixate on one. Will humanity (or some creation or derivative of ourselves) outlive our solar system? Now _that_ is a fun question to explore.
xpe 3y ago
> I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. I reject the form of this claim. Duty is precisely the kind of thing you owe due to your continued existence. It has nothing to do with your lack of choice in springing yourself into existence to whatever place you were born. If you want to reject the notion of duty, logically speaking, I think you'll need another argument, but I suspect it won't be based in anything resembling ethics as we know it -- I suspect the only logically valid arguments against duty presuppose that only one individual matters (the individual being you, of course, that most important of all beings). > I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. You may not feel such a duty. But it doesn't mean such a worldview is in your own rational self-interest. People in society aren't overly pleased by those who are overly individualistic. When people notice others who aren't contributing much, it can have negative consequences. Sure, free riding happens, but it doesn't make it ethical.

whalesalad 3y ago

Animals eat each other. They feed other animals. They spread seeds to propagate plant life. Their decomposing bodies fertilize the earth. There is an ecosystem that exists. Humans don’t have any predators. We’ve created a society where everyone feels entitled to exist. Animals don’t feel entitled to exist. They fight daily to survive. We fight daily to play the game that us humans created. It’s not real, it’s all fabricated: 401k’s, board member seats, search engine optimization, globalization, offshore manufacturing, advertising revenue, taxes, traffic lights, the NFL, American idol, TikTok dances, Prada clothing, Stanley cups, business casual, country clubs. We have created the mess we are in. And there is too much momentum/inertia to shift course. We (as a society) will keep running on this treadmill until we collapse from exhaustion and hubris.

xpe 3y ago
> Animals eat each other. They feed other animals. They spread seeds to propagate plant life. Their decomposing bodies fertilize the earth. There is an ecosystem that exists. Humans don’t have any predators. We’ve created a society where everyone feels entitled to exist. Animals don’t feel entitled to exist. They fight daily to survive. We fight daily to play the game that us humans created. It’s not real, it’s all fabricated... This is moral confusion. Nature does not set the ethical standards to which we aspire. See the naturalistic fallacy.
- whalesalad 3y ago
  These things you mention are honestly more examples of fabricated concepts. Are you a religious person by chance?
  - xpe 3y ago
    There are well-developed branches of ethics that are uncoupled from any religious assumptions. Including systems of ethics that reject various forms of moral relativism.
  - xpe 3y ago
    The term "socially constructed" is well-understood by many, including myself. Your use of "fabricated concepts" is not clear, however. Care to define it?
  - xpe 3y ago
    > These things you mention are honestly more examples of fabricated concepts. Are you a religious person by chance? If you are trying to insult me, you should stop that behavior.
    - whalesalad 3y ago
      I am genuinely not.
      - xpe 3y ago
        Ok, thanks. Why did you ask the question of e.g. am I religious? Is there a connection?
xpe 3y ago
> We (as a society) will keep running on this treadmill until we collapse from exhaustion and hubris. This is false certainty. You don't know what will happen; you haven't even given a handful of possible future scenarios. Society could go on for some time with rising inequality with tragic consequences, sure. Or we could grow out of this phase in hundreds of different ways. Or we could obliterate ourselves in nuclear war. There are many possibilities. Don't fixate on one. Will humanity (or some creation or derivative of ourselves) outlive our solar system? Now _that_ is a fun question to explore.

xpe 3y ago

> I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. I reject the form of this claim. Duty is precisely the kind of thing you owe due to your continued existence. It has nothing to do with your lack of choice in springing yourself into existence to whatever place you were born. If you want to reject the notion of duty, logically speaking, I think you'll need another argument, but I suspect it won't be based in anything resembling ethics as we know it -- I suspect the only logically valid arguments against duty presuppose that only one individual matters (the individual being you, of course, that most important of all beings). > I didn't ask to be born therefore I have no duties to you or to anyone other than myself. You may not feel such a duty. But it doesn't mean such a worldview is in your own rational self-interest. People in society aren't overly pleased by those who are overly individualistic. When people notice others who aren't contributing much, it can have negative consequences. Sure, free riding happens, but it doesn't make it ethical.