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atucker comments on Guilt: Another Gift Nobody Wants - Less Wrong
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As another interesting data point, in the early centuries of the Ottoman Empire, the regular succession procedure involved the new sultan killing off his brothers to eliminate any chance of usurpation preemptively. Sultans would often have numerous children with their harem of concubines, so an ascension to the throne often involved a mass killing of the new sultan's half-brothers.
As far as I know, the sultans were not known to be tormented by fratricidal guilt.
I don't think this is a disproof -- if you're expected to do something you don't have to feel guilty about it because you could still be trustworthy.
Trustworthy? When you're the one with all the power (and your subjects don't have the option of conveniently relocating away) what you need in the Machiavellian sense is for your subjects to trust that you'll kill anyone who makes themselves a threat.