flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul Torek) (12/29/84)
From: Brian Peterson {ucbvax, ihnp4, } !tektronix!shark!brianp > We don't really want to >increase< the number of persons, > but, rather, we value those we have. Speak for yourself. I want to see the number of persons increase, if their average level of material welfare stays roughly constant. Why not? That someone would be brought into the world for a hopeless life of physical pain would be a reason against creating that person, right? Then why doesn't a happy life count as a reason *for* creating that person? In fact, if it didn't, there would be no way to justify having any children at all, since there is some risk of a miserable life (terminal birth defect or whatever). From: Ron Rizzo > Morality is a human matter, external to & imposed on nature (& human > experience which is part of nature), & necessarily somewhat arbitrary > with respect to it. Appeals to nature actually corrupt ethics. I agree that the argument "It's natural, therefore it's right" never works (is that what you're saying?), but I disagree with the statement that morality is external to human experience. Dead wrong. Experience has plenty to do with morality. It has a lot to do with how we learn morals. From: Paul Dubuc cbscc!pmd > If you are going to play one concern against another why don't you tell us > what is *the* most important thing to be concerned with so that we can > all drop everything else and rush over and solve that problem. Such sarcasm seems completely out of line to me. I think it is perfectly fair to criticize your charitable activities, and it makes perfect sense to seek a top priority. I'd say a good criterion for the most important thing to be concerned with is to work at the most cost-effective way to save human lives that you can. I suspect this means addressing problems of hunger or disease in the third world. Me? I'm working on finding the most cost-effective way. Seriously. --Paul V Torek, umcp-cs!flink (until 1/11, then back to: wucs!wucec1!pvt1047 )