Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam B.
Because developing something for the betterment of humanity is the right thing to do?
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That theory has been tried. It was called the Soviet Union. It was one of the most abysmal and tragic failures in the history of the world.
What has been shown to work is Capitalism where people work to better their own lives and those of their family by creating and producing what other people want.
The kind of Altruism you put forward when carried to its logical extreme is self-annihilation. Who is going to work to feed you, clothe you, build a house for you to live in?
In fact how dare you expect food when someone else needs it more than you do?
Clothes? Someone else needs them more.
A house to keep the rain off? Someone else needs it more than you do.
In fact when it comes down to it, everything you consume is something that someone, somewhere else in the world needs more than you do. Your very life is taking away from someone else what THEY need.
If you want to devote your life to the "betterment of humanity" then how dare you consume that which others need? By what right do you claim food and clothes and housing when others in the world are in need?
As I said, that philosophy... living for the "betterment of others" is specious at best and blatantly criminal at worst.
I personally AM a member of Humanity and feel that my needs and wants are as valid and meaningful as anyone else's and no one has the right to tell me that my desires, wants and needs are any less important than anyone else's.
But I also don't feel I have a "right" to anyone else's work, effort of property simply because I "need" them. If I want something, if I want to survive, live and prosper, it is up to me to produce goods or services of enough value to someone else to swap for the things I want and need.
The moment I decide that I have a "right" to what someone else creates because I "need" it, I become nothing more than any other brute with a stick throughout history who believe Might Make Right.
The moment YOU decide that person A has a "right" to the goods or services of person B because of "need" and you're willing to seize them for the "betterment of humanity" then you too become nothing more than another brute using force to get his/her own way.
Civilization was intended to end brute force animalism. I'd hate to see it brought back.