[ExI] Beowulf

[David Lubkin]

Spike wrote:

>Ja, I see your concern but of course evil triumphs when good people do you
>know what.
>
>http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSL2362541420071123
>
>Can we really say we shouldn't be helping the Iraqis beat this plague?  All
>cultures are not fundamentally equivalent.  It is our business because we
>are good people.  Al qaeda is evil.

I've brought this all up before, but it bears repeating --

To me, the way to answer most questions like this is to simplify them 
to one involving two or three people.

If I saw someone being murdered, I would not say, "That's a private 
matter between them."

As both a legal and an ethical matter, I may use force in defense of 
others. I can legally and ethically assist them if they ask for help 
or if a "reasonable man" would conclude that their defense was 
warranted (e.g., they are prevented from requesting assistance or 
they are incapable of informed consent to the violence).

Where libertarians and non-libertarians part company is when the 
violence is consensual but "shocks the conscience" or is inherently 
harmful to society.

Also, as discussed recently on another list, a libertarian may 
initiate force, e.g., steal a ladder to rescue someone from a burning 
house, but they do so knowing there may be a price to pay and 
prepared to pay it. A non-libertarian will use that force, with no apologies.

I can certainly stop Samantha from bludgeoning Spike. I can persuade 
Natasha to help me. I suppose I can force Harvey at gunpoint to drive 
the speedboat across the harbor to get to S and S, if I pay the price.

Stopping women from being killed to redeem the family shame of their 
getting raped is a good thing. Stopping men from being put into wood 
chippers in front of their children is a good thing.

The challenge for extropians is to think of clever ways to free the 
world (and to end the enslavement or subjugation of women, which is a 
good metric for freedom) that are cheap (in dollars and lives), 
non-governmental, and/or non-violent.

I like micro-loans directly to women in the Congo to start up small 
businesses. I like assassination of despots. I like dropping laptops 
(without permission) into villages in North Korea and Chad. I like golden rice.


-- David.