I think that I have struck precisely at the flaw in mainstream consequentialism that I was aiming at- It is an inconsistent position for somebody in good overall health to not donate a kidney and a lung, but to correct the cashier when they have received too much change.
This depends on the your preferences and, as such, is not generally true of all consequentialist systems.
If you generalize consequentialism to mean 'whatever supports your preferences', then you've expanded it beyond an ethical system to include most decision-making systems. We're not discussing consequentialism in the general sense, either.
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence.
I'm ...
A Ph.D student in neuroscience shot at least 50 people at a showing of the new Batman movie. He also appears to have released some kind of gas from a canister. Because of his educational background this person almost certainly knows a lot about molecular biology. How long will it be (if ever) before a typical bio-science Ph.D will have the capacity to kill, say,a million people?
Edit: I'm not claiming that this event should cause a fully informed person to update on anything. Rather I was hoping that readers of this blog with strong life-science backgrounds could provide information that would help me and other interested readers assess the probability of future risks. Since this blog often deals with catastrophic risks and the social harms of irrationality and given that the events I described will likely dominate the U.S. news media for a few days I thought my question worth asking. Given the post's Karma rating (currently -4), however, I will update my beliefs about what constitutes an appropriate discussion post.