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The importance of a standard can be seen by observing the effects of removing it. It's like you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Without a standard to refer to, there's no way to clear the dispute between me and the cable seller. Thus, the most important quality of a standard is its consistency. It's also possible to measure objects using the international standard ruler. But it won't be practical. How many measurements need to be done everyday? Similarly, moral rules are useful for their practicality. It's easier to understand and follow rules like don't lie, don't steal, or obey your parents than implementing the universal moral standard, which is meant to achieve a long term goal. In most cases, those common moral rules are good enough. The moral standards are required to justify any exceptions.
What does it mean to do something good or bad? How do we know what's good or bad? How do we even know that this is a reasonable question to ask? Psychologists have been studying morality for a long time, examining how our sense of morality develops over time, and the ways that we arrive at certain decisions based on our conception of morality. This is a pretty hefty topic, but let's dig into it now. And yes, we will cover the Trolley Problem!
What does it mean to do something good or bad?
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 03/01/2023 13:26:56What does it mean to do something good or bad? Good deeds make people happy. Bad deeds make people sad.Taking money from the taxpayer and giving it to bail out a bank or an energy company shareholder can be seen as good or bad depending on which side you are standing, so HM Government can claim to be morally neutral, and indeed adhering to the Christian moral code (Luke 19:26).
There are some videos of people happily celebrating 9/11.Universal moral standard based on universal terminal goal evaluates moral value of actions and decisions from the perspective of furthest future conscious entities as conceivable.
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 05/01/2023 10:27:35There are some videos of people happily celebrating 9/11.Universal moral standard based on universal terminal goal evaluates moral value of actions and decisions from the perspective of furthest future conscious entities as conceivable. Which rather proves my point. If the religious scum wipe out all the infidels, their descendants' perverted perspective will prevail, to the greater glory of their superstition. So there is no definable universal terminal goal: either the good guys persuade everyone to abandon religion, or we are doomed to eternal and pointless conflict until the followers of some arbitrary nonsense have eliminated everyone else.
Which so far suggests that rampant profiteering, private ownership of essential commodities, and the freedom to invade any territory you like, are the universal terminal goal. Only fools say the crime doesn't pay. Why else would criminals do it? Or if you want to be scientific about things, the UTG is maximum entropy, which will certainly prevail.
There will be survivors, mostly cockroaches and dogs, who have more important things to do than worry about universal goals and morals. Be kind to your dog and, like the cockroach, he will wait until you are dead before eating you.
If none of us survive, then everything we've done will stop being meaningful.
Those who claim divine inspiration tend to talk about eternal consequences, and apparently this leads them to despise and kill one another in pursuit of the UTG. Disgusting behavior isn't confined to theists. The Thousand Year Reich was, according to your analysis, based on a very high moral standard.
Quote from: hamdani yusuf on 07/01/2023 11:51:16If none of us survive, then everything we've done will stop being meaningful.It isn't anyway. The graveyards are full of men who used to be indispensable.There is no ultimate meaning or purpose - these concepts only have validity in the context of a finite existence.
You seem to have learned a lot of bitter past experiences which make you struggle to imagine the possibilities of better future.
If our action today saves someone's life, or at least makes his life easier, and then he lives for another year, then it would be meaningful for at least a year.
Quote You seem to have learned a lot of bitter past experiences which make you struggle to imagine the possibilities of better future.Would that be the one dominated by Putin and the Russian Orthodox mafia, the Islamic State, or the National Rifle Anti-abortion worshippers of Jesus Trump?