I wish there was a third option to knock down things that aren't actually controversial. In threads like this an upvote and a downvote are both an upvote.
this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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I don't believe in capitalism. I don't think we should strive for endless economic growth. Sustainability and shared benefits and burdens are the way to go.
I agree.
I understand the purpose, though. It takes time and effort to develop ideas. Odin forgive me for sounding like I'm defending the pharmaceutical industry, but it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries, materials, and everything else to develop a product. Without IP, someone else will just take the result of your R&D and go straight to development and selling; you make the investment, they profit. So, what's the alternative? How do you get people to dump vast amounts of money in research without giving them some mechanism for recuperating their costs? Or will everyone just suit around waiting for someone else to do the research, so they can snatch up the results and start selling product?
Personally, I think R&D should be done by public institutions and funded by the public, and then be IP-free. I'm not certain that it would be a complete solution that replaces the system we currently have, though.
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I think one of the more controversial ones I have is that I don't tend to be in favor of things like MAID or voluntary euthanasia. I understand why people are for it, but I don't like the idea of killing someone over something that is ultimately in their head, like pain or a person's desires, and the way I tend to evaluate the value of life has something of a floor (that is to say, I do not really believe that there is such a thing as a "fate worse than death" so to speak, because I believe that death is the least functional state a person can have and anything above that implies at least some functioning even if that state is still highly undesirable).
I do not really believe that there is such a thing as a "fate worse than death"
What about unimaginable suffering before one's certain death? Would this not qualify as a worse fate than death?
I don't really have a strong opinion on this topic, but one example comes to mind that shows that many people don't act according to your maxime. Have you ever seen those battlefield suicides that are filmed by the drones in Ukraine? I'm not going to link them here, but they are plentyful. So, so many soldiers, many of them wounded, decide to take their own life to avoid going through an experience that they probably view as worse than death. I just think it's interesting and worth considering.
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What about people with terminal, genuinely incurable diseases? I understand not letting people kill themselves just because they want to (since mental illness can compromise your objectivity there) but sometimes it's less about someone deciding if they're going to die, and more about how.
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I would have agreed with you when I was younger, but now that I'm older I think I changed my mind, I'm not so sure it's fair to make people suffer with late-stage terminal diseases where their whole life is reduced to suffering.
(that is to say, I do not really believe that there is such a thing as a “fate worse than death” so to speak, because I believe that death is the least functional state a person can have and anything above that implies at least some functioning even if that state is still highly undesirable)
Is constant, unending suffering where you are in a state of constant unimaginable and untreatable pain a state worth living, though? Should people have to live that way, just because death is "worse"?
Everything is in someone's head. Without consciousness, we are nothing, so saying something is "in someone's head" is the wrong way of putting it.
Have you ever heard about functional neurologic disorder? Just because symptoms are psychosomatic does not mean they are not actual symptoms.
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IP? Do you mean imaginary property? If so, I agree. I think that ideas and culture should be shared. I understand the stated goal (protect individual inventors from being exploited by huge corporations) but that's not how it's played out. It's used as a tool of control by powerful companies to stifle innovation. Ask any 3d printer hobbyist if they like stratysus. (I effing hate them) there should be some mechanism to protect inventors but this isn't it.
Full on empathy for all things. Sometimes it even bleeds into inanimate objects.
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