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[umiman]

I don't think I'm evil. I don't go out of my way to spite humanity or injure others for no reason other than to injure them. All my actions are based on economic reasoning and self-benefit. I take the most efficient course of action when faced with choices and do so without allowing external stimuli to affect the reasoning.

All I do is select the best available choice at the time and go from there. I doubt I draw any utility or "happiness" from an active destruction of life. I value human life based on estimated levels of utility I can draw from it and use that as an equimarginal guideline for each additional choice. Yes, I make every choice based on how it affects me personally and that's totally selfish, but I've long since learned that attempting to judge a person's value based on how they affect "society" is an arduous and nearly impossible task. This inherently makes decision-making impossible in situations where a choice between lives must be made.

If being efficient and cost-effective is evil, then I guess I'm evil as can be.

[inaluct]

Stop being so moral absolutist. Geez.

[LegoLord]

Stop being so moral absolutist. Geez.

I'm a little confused.

Who?

[umiman]

Stop being so moral absolutist. Geez.

I have no idea what that means though I assume it's an insult.

I also think that all people act in this way, just that they apply different levels of utility to different actions. For example, some people would rate "being an annoying prick who points out extremely obvious things" as a very valuable thing that exceeds the expected outcome if they're wrong, and would do it.

So, some people value life at a greater level than I would and act in that way. The optimal human condition would be to rate each and every one of these actions and perform accordingly.

Which brings me back to the argument that I don't think I'm evil. I don't think anyone is evil. We all just maximize our "happiness" profit.

[inaluct]

Moral absolutism is the belief that there are some actions are objectively right or wrong.

[umiman]

Ah, so it wasn't referencing me. Damn you forum formatting!

In any case, that sounds like a logical syntax error. Are you sure you don't mean, "moral absolutism is the belief that all actions are objectively right or wrong"?

[Jude]

Well, if we're talking about evil, I think moral absolutism is assumed for the sake of argument.

I think we all know how subjective morality really is...

[LegoLord]

Moral absolutism is the belief that there are some actions are objectively right or wrong.

It's more the idea that there are very broad statements of right and wrong that can always be correct.  Like "killing is always bad," which can be wrong in many cases, depending on circumstances.  This is why most places have a judicial system and vigilantism is frequently illegal.

Determining the morality of a situation is never simple, but can be done with the right group of people with the right system.

[Jude]

Feelings of morality are a product of biology, which is a product of evolution. That explains why so many things evoke gut reactions among anybody on earth. Of course, we also have the handy dandy capability to think about this stuff and create elaborate justifications about this stuff, but the whole thing rests on people's gut feelings of what's good and bad.

[Idiom]

Feelings of morality are a product of biology, which is a product of evolution. That explains why so many things evoke gut reactions among anybody on earth. Of course, we also have the handy dandy capability to think about this stuff and create elaborate justifications about this stuff, but the whole thing rests on people's gut feelings of what's good and bad.

Dogs have a sense of fairness. You learn something random every day.

[RAM]

It isn't just biology, cultural taboos are huge. Take monogomy for example, many people have killed because it was breached in fairly minor ways. Where as in other places polygamy is an accepted part of society...

It is pretty hard to justify killing, it will pretty much always come down to individuls' decisions, and any given individual only has one individual worth of life. So it usually comes down to saying that one life is more valuable than another...

[umiman]

Interestingly enough, we can slaughter dwarves by the dozen with no problems if it means a really cool statue.

Makes you wonder if the ancient Pharoahs saw their slaves when their pyramids were being built the same way we look at dwarves.

[Jude]

It isn't just biology, cultural taboos are huge. Take monogomy for example, many people have killed because it was breached in fairly minor ways. Where as in other places polygamy is an accepted part of society...

Well, yeah, culture has a large impact on what exactly is considered moral or immoral - but the same basic emotions are the cause of it, and there's a large degree of commonality in what morality focuses on throughout every society on the planet, from stone age foragers to modern America.

With the polygamy/monogamy example, it would appear that the level of equality or inequality in a society strongly affects how mating goes. If things are fairly economically equal, it's usually monogamy that predominates, with some exceptions, like in the West - most people are monogamous (including serial monogamy) but a few very successful alpha males have a number of lovers, or a wife and a mistress, and so on. Whereas in a society with much inequality, it's more advantageous for women to be second or third wives of the men who have the resources, instead of first wives of broke peasants, hence you see polygamy. Things get more complicated when one system or the other gets codified into religion, of course, or declared evil - but that's what basically goes on, even if it's outside the law or social norms.

[MoonDancer]

I'd like to think that I'm a good person, but I know several people who would argue that point. I'd like to say that I'm not violent or distructive or that I hate the sight of blood, but again I know several people who would argue that point. I say I'm an angel, the same people say I'm the angel of death.

So this is who I really am. I am evil incarnate. I am a violent and distructive woman who loves the sight of blood.

And yeah....I enjoy every minute of it.

[JoshuaFH]

I'd like to think that I'm a good person, but I know several people who would argue that point. I'd like to say that I'm not violent or distructive or that I hate the sight of blood, but again I know several people who would argue that point. I say I'm an angel, the same people say I'm the angel of death.

So this is who I really am. I am evil incarnate. I am a violent and distructive woman who loves the sight of blood.

And yeah....I enjoy every minute of it.

Oh yeah, you're a Bad Girl aren't you? Doing whatever you want to whoever you want.

You don't just torture your fellow man, you dominate him!

Becareful who you hurt though angel, cause some guys like being hurt!

Rowr!