[ExI] Survival of the nicest: have we got evolution the wrong way round?

[Adrian Tymes]

On Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 12:06 PM Dave S via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Tuesday, April 9th, 2024 at 3:34 PM, Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>
> If there are cases where people will predictably violate their principles,
> and it is reasonably expected for people proposing principles to predict
> and cover these situations, the principles aren't really that solid if they
> don't cover these situations.
>
>
> People violate their own principles all the time under extreme
> circumstances. I think stealing is wrong, but I'd steal in a heartbeat to
> save myself or a loved one. I don't think the harm caused by petty theft is
> sufficient to justify adhering to the principle in that case.
>

Is your principle that stealing is wrong per se, or to minimize harm - with
the observation that stealing usually but not always inflicts more harm
than it relieves, and thus usually but not always should be avoided, with
that metric identifying the rare cases where it is acceptable?

The latter would be an example of a more solid principle, as it covers
exceptions likely to be encountered (by enough people to matter) in
practice.

>
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