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Many of such "do the right thing and change the world" pieces assume that most people mostly agree on what "the right thing" is. They do not. Pick people from
by ptero 1y ago
Many of such "do the right thing and change the world" pieces assume that most people mostly agree on what "the right thing" is. They do not.
Pick people from different countries, different cultures, different backgrounds and they will have very different views on what would make things better. Not in the end state of "people should be healthy, happy and free to pursue their passions; and we should explore the stars, too", but in "what would be a worthy goal for me to work on, today and for the next few years". And acceptance of such differences is, to me, a good thing: anytime countries are remoralized into pursuing a common moral goal, gulags for those who did not drink the kool-aid are not far away.
In my book people should not work on things they find immoral. But I am totally fine if my neighbors or my friends are competing against me at work, in technological or in moral space. If they do not consider their work immoral, it is all good. I like hearing their arguments, too, either to steelman my views or to find cracks in them. This likely puts me into the "spineless amoebas, useless species" bucket of the author's classification.
Going on a moral crusade to change the world? No, thank you. They do not end well; not for the world, which likely will not even notice, but for the crusader who will likely become disillusioned, radicalized or bitter when the world does not budge. My 2c.
- bigbadfeline 1y ago> "that most people mostly agree on what "the right thing" is. They do not." Do people agree on basic math, physics, chemistry, etc or it depends on different countries/cultures/backgrounds? > "Going on a moral crusade to change the world? No, thank you. They do not end well; not for the world, which likely will not even notice, but for the crusader who will likely become disillusioned, radicalized or bitter when the world does not budge. My 2c." Your choices are yours, as are your 2c, but the rest neither follows nor computes. What follows from your logic is that serfdom and slavery are perfectly fine, you wouldn't bother to find a better way if they were imposed on you or others... but you would ride on the efforts of others while criticizing their actions as "moral crusade to change the world".
- DavidPiper 1y ago> Do people agree on basic math, physics, chemistry, etc or it depends on different countries/cultures/backgrounds There are many people in the world who cannot practice basic maths, physics, or chemistry, etc. [1] is one source for the USA, which puts the number at 39% for Grade 8 students in maths, which would suggest higher for physics and maybe chemistry. So the answer is probably "no" for the USA at least. [1] https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-u-s-students-perform-at-basic-math-and-reading/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-u-s-students-perform-at...
- ptero 1y ago>> "Going on a moral crusade to change the world? No, thank you. They do not end well; not for the world, which likely will not even notice, but for the crusader who will likely become disillusioned, radicalized or bitter when the world does not budge. My 2c." > Your choices are yours, as are your 2c, but the rest neither follows nor computes. What follows from your logic is that serfdom and slavery are perfectly fine, you wouldn't bother to find a better way if they were imposed on you Please explain how does "serfdom and slavery are perfectly fine" follow from what I wrote.