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I'm rather the other way around; I've never really understood why some people see them as being meaningfully distinct. For example: would we make the same dist

by gloob 17y ago

I'm rather the other way around; I've never really understood why some people see them as being meaningfully distinct. For example: would we make the same distinction between the bureaucrats and policymakers in China, and the programmers who make the Great Firewall actually work? From my perspective, the person who actually carries out the action, not the one who tells them to, is the one who is responsible for it, good or bad. We don't praise politicians when a firefighter does their job; why should we blame the politicians when a soldier does theirs? Not that I pretend to understand any of it, mind you. God knows I have no bloody clue what it's like to be in a war, so perhaps I'm entirely off-base.

gcheong 17y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
- gloob 17y ago
  Milgram's experiment, provided it is correct, demonstrates that people like to pretend they are not responsible for their own actions. This result is orthogonal to the question of who is responsible (not who we want to think is responsible) for the action. Edit: We are, of course, assuming the existence of some objective notion of "responsibility" here, which is a point that could be debated. That said, I think I'm going off topic now, so I'll be quiet.
wizzard 17y ago
Unfortunately a lot of people can't afford to be picky about how they earn a living. I bet a lot of people on HN have stories about working for sleazy companies and having to do things they didn't believe in. People enlist in the military for many different reasons. I've never heard anyone say they joined because they enjoy killing people.
- gloob 17y ago
  Apologies if I came across as being judgemental about it - I'm not, really. My personality doesn't suit the military, and I'm lucky enough to be able to find employment elsewhere, but obviously there are people for whom one or both of those is not true. Fair enough. (As an aside, I'm not going to comment on the moral legitimacy or lack thereof of soldiers, wars, etc., because in this context it's more a matter of personal moral beliefs than anything else.) What bothers me is the notion that people are not responsible for their own actions.

by gloob 17y ago

gcheong 17y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

gloob 17y ago
Milgram's experiment, provided it is correct, demonstrates that people like to pretend they are not responsible for their own actions. This result is orthogonal to the question of who is responsible (not who we want to think is responsible) for the action. Edit: We are, of course, assuming the existence of some objective notion of "responsibility" here, which is a point that could be debated. That said, I think I'm going off topic now, so I'll be quiet.

wizzard 17y ago

Unfortunately a lot of people can't afford to be picky about how they earn a living. I bet a lot of people on HN have stories about working for sleazy companies and having to do things they didn't believe in. People enlist in the military for many different reasons. I've never heard anyone say they joined because they enjoy killing people.

gloob 17y ago
Apologies if I came across as being judgemental about it - I'm not, really. My personality doesn't suit the military, and I'm lucky enough to be able to find employment elsewhere, but obviously there are people for whom one or both of those is not true. Fair enough. (As an aside, I'm not going to comment on the moral legitimacy or lack thereof of soldiers, wars, etc., because in this context it's more a matter of personal moral beliefs than anything else.) What bothers me is the notion that people are not responsible for their own actions.