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I consider this topic as a spinoff of my previous subject https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=71347.0It is split up because morality itself is quite complex and can generate a discussion too long to be covered there. Before we start the discussion, it might be useful to have some background information to save our time and energy to prevent unnecessary debate.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoralityQuoteMorality (from Latin: moralis, lit. 'manner, character, proper behavior') is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper.[1] Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal.[2] Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness". I hope this topic can start a discussion which can eventually produce satisfactory answer to the question .
Morality (from Latin: moralis, lit. 'manner, character, proper behavior') is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper.[1] Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal.[2] Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness".
“I was in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, because I believed I was following the instructions of former President Trump and he was my president and the commander-in-chief. His statements also had me believing the election was stolen from him,” Miller said.
It is always a pleasure to cross swords with a gentleman.
My wife often says that regrets always come late.
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 30/01/2021 22:19:53My wife often says that regrets always come late.That's a bit obvious, surely? You can't regret something that hasn't happened. But more to the point, regret is strictly for losers, as in this instance. Where a mob has successfully overturned the rule of law, they tend to rejoice - at least until they try to govern!
No one can cinvincingly argue that morality of modern secular free society is equal to morality of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple. At least one of them still exists.
The Case of the Serial Sperm DonorOne man, hundreds of children and a burning question: Why?
The first child of in vitro fertilization was born in 1978, and in the decades since, sperm donation has become a thriving global business, as fertility clinics, sperm banks and private donors have sought to meet the demand of parents eager to conceive.As an industry, however, it is poorly regulated. A patchwork of laws ostensibly addresses who can donate, where and how often, in part to avoid introducing or amplifying genetic disabilities in a population. In Germany, a sperm-clinic donor may not produce more than 15 children; in the United Kingdom the cap is 10 families of unlimited children. In the Netherlands, Dutch law prohibits donating anonymously, and nonbinding guidelines limit clinic donors to 25 children and from donating at more than one clinic in the country. In the United States there are no legal limits, only guidelines from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine: 25 children per donor in a population of 800,000.
In 2019, the Dutch Donor Child Foundation, an advocacy group that facilitates legal and emotional support for donor-conceived people and their families and helps search for biological relatives, determined through DNA testing that Dr. Jan Karbaat, a fertility specialist who died in 2017, had secretly fathered at least 68 children, born to women who visited his clinic near Rotterdam.
Moral values are categorically memes.
Merriam-Webster1 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life.
A meme (/miːm/ MEEM)[1][2][3] is an idea, behavior, or style that becomes a fad and spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme.
An Internet meme, more commonly known simply as a meme (/miːm/ MEEM), is a type of idea, behaviour, or style (meme) that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms and especially for humorous purposes. Memes can spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, or news sources. They may relate to various existing Internet cultures or subcultures, often created or spread on various websites. Internet memes are "Often, modifications or spoofs add[ed] to the profile of the original idea thus turning it into a phenomenon that transgresses social and cultural boundaries".[1]
Good moralities are those which conserve their media better than their competitors. This conservation includes protecting their media from being "infected" by their competitors.
Allons, enfants de la patrie..... or blame a corrupt ex-president for your failed attack on the Capitol? You see the importance of separating morality (an absolute) from right and wrong (defined by the winner).
I'll review some of alternative views of morality discussed here by collecting similarities and differences with universal morality that I've proposed.