Comment on Open Thread: January 2010

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:32:04 GMT

Isn't that what people have always done? Maybe not explicitly. To explicitly make the split you're speaking of would just help people to deny reality, and do what they need to do, albeit in highly suboptimal and destructive ways, while still holding on to incoherent moral codes that continue to harm them in other ways.

But it beats letting ourselves be wiped out. I worry about the fact that Western civilization is saying that an increasing number of rights must not be violated under any circumstances, at a time when we are facing an increasing number of existential risks. There are some things that we don't let ourselves see, because seeing them would mean acknowledging that somebody's rights will have to be violated.

For instance, plenty of people simultaneously believe that Israel must stay where it is, and that Israel must not commit genocide. Reality might accommodate them (eg., if we discover an alternative energy source that impoverishes the other middle eastern states). But I think it's more likely that it won't.

Discuss