Quote:Original post by Dmytry

Quote:Original post by Eelco

Quote:Original post by LessBread
Speaking of the devil...

Quote:Original post by Eelco
hitler was a pacifist towards aryans...

Utter nonsense. He would kill them too if they were gay, communist or if they helped Jews. Hitler was not a pacifist at all towards anyone, so please spare us the fourth reich fantasies.

you are missing the point on both fronts.

a) that was supposed to be reduction ad absurdum, not a fantasy. i didnt make it up, thats what the man himself claimed
b) the details of the specific example are utterly irrelevant. no matter how many aryan gays he killed, its still possible the endresult would be a net 'saving'.

net 'saving' is real easy to do. Turn keys, enter codes, push the huge red button on the nuclear missile control center (preferably during cold war in early 1980s). Ideally, 6 billions dead (like dinosaurs), but it'll save some tens billions from dying in future wars, from diseases, and so on. Some crazy leader can very well make net 'saving'.

The problem is of course that in all but most extreme cases "net result" is pretty much undecidable.

exactly, thats the point i was trying to make. there is no standard for moral poison, and if you try to come up with one it will lead you to conclusions like killing off everyone being the right thing to do.

Well, there is no standard for parasitic DNA sequences / "selfish DNA" either, nonetheless you can say that some sequences are just copying thelselves around without any other purprose.
With poison btw you can make same argument that (painless) poison is ultimate painkiller, saving you from all the pain with single dose. Or with afterlife, how you'd define poisons then?


Of course with beliefs if you define some absolute and somebody else defines some other absolute, the arguing aren't going to change that* and ultimately POV that wins will be "right".
*it isn't strictly true, the religious guys convert non-religious guys, even without using force.