[ExI] Private and government R&D

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/7/2 Mirco Romanato <painlord2k at libero.it>:

> Unfortunately, there is not "ultimate good effects".
> There is not end after they live always happy and well.
> The means you use to obtain your ends will follow you.
> Whatever you do or are willing to condone will be used against you in
> the future.
>
> People caring only for the "ultimate good effect" have killed, maimed,
> destroyed and enslaved multitudes. At the end of the day, the only
> "ultimate good effect" they minded was they own good. It is a weak
> excuse used by many weak persons to justify their weak actions.
>
> People caring for the "ultimate good effect" destroy trust, deter
> collaboration in the long run (and usually in the short run also). They
> destroy the fabric of the society. They believe they are the ultimate
> judge of others and their own actions. And, not strangely, they are
> lenient with themselves and harsh with other.

It's not an ultimate good effect if it leads to harm. And the only
useful thing about "being good" is that it makes it more likely that
good things will happen as a result. Would you stick to a principle if
you were convinced that this would make the world a worse place?

> Bin Laden, Pol Pot and others surely believed or believe that the
> ultimate good effect is more important that the means used to obtain it.

Actually I believe those two are a good counterexample to what you are
attempting to say: people who believed in a religious or political
principle, and didn't care how much suffering they caused as a result
since the principle was more important.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou