Echarmion

What is Trump doing "with" these Hurricanes?

Yes, extremely so. Because the planet is already full of life. Any new lifeform would have to compete with what's already present, and since the exist...

I think that as long as there are significant political forces in the UK pushing for a more conciliatory position with regards to the EU, the EU leade...

How do we have information on how things look "from the outside"? That seems impossible to me. The information comes from previous mind-states. Whethe...

No. I am not sure how it even makes sense to speak of one will including another.

Indeed, maybe you are. For example, did you know that certain combinations of words can have different meanings, even if the individual words refer to...

The "will of the people" and "the will of their constituents" are different phrases. Are you telling me they are the same?

I am not saying that it justifies dismissing other concerns. Rights are rarely absolute. What I am saying is that having children is, initially, only ...

Right, so? I didn't say anything about opposing the will of their constituents. And? What does that have to do with the topic? I know, but it's not li...

Opposing the "will of the people" is part of democracy. That's what opposition parties are for. If elections represent the will of the people, then th...

But isn't it also the case that the concept of freedom is necessary to arrive at an understanding of the world, or parts of it, since without freedom ...

It's a question of how you conceptualize exceptions to a rule. You could treat them as extensions of the rule, in which case the rule ends up very lon...

I have not checked any research on that, but it seems at least plausible that very limited consumption of meat might be morally permissible to make ef...

I don't really see how this changes the argument. If you aren't alive, you don't exist. Let me put this another way: if you want to say it's "less ris...

But this argument cuts both ways. If the "good" is of no consequence because a non-existant person looses nothing, then the harm is also of no consequ...

Nonexistence is not a "less risky" alternative for the child though. Non-existance is not more or less pleasant than existence. That's a category erro...

I assumed you meant creating children specifically for this "experiment". But assuming is always dangerous. So perhaps you could make this thought exp...

Only if the children would have been born regardless. In that case Utilitarianism would work, but that's not helpful for the anti-natalist argument.

Here is the relevant quote:

You claimed that "almost every" ethical system concludes that doing so is wrong. So name some of those. Why do you need counter examples? I already po...

That seems like an irrelevant aside. Now come on. I didn't make such a claim. You did. Can you defend your claims or not? I am not allowed to reserve ...

Ok, in my view there are two ways in which we structure the world: causality and freedom. Causality structures the flow of events - time, essentially....

There might be justifications for either of these actions. And arguably, if you are justified in doing it then you have a right to do it. I think this...

No, I don't. There are plenty of examples where actions that harm others are right. Self defense is the most obvious one. I disagree with your claim t...

This is true, but I think this can be rephrased as thinking that you should have certain rights. I.e. it's a question of what the laws should look lik...

But physical analogues are also just experienced. Noone has access to anything outside their experience. I know what you mean to say. It accounts for ...

Probably the only precise definition of right is in legal terms. Outside of legal terms, it's probably sufficient to ask what we should do. We could p...

But if you repeat an experiment, and get the same results, those results are only the same in the subjective perspective of each experimenter, right? ...

We are "entitled" to do as we please so long as doing so does not infringe upon the freedoms of others. This, it seems to me, is not a very controvers...

I haven't said that it's wrong. I said I don't know. So, essentially utilitarianism? The problem I see with this argument is that it relies on there b...

I can't explain. That's why I am asking you. After all, your position depends on, or is at least strengthened by, that argument. I just say I don't kn...

I think premise 2 is obviously false. You cannot impose life on anything. But we need to consider the consequences to someone. Ethical considerations ...

I don't think it'd be good advice to avoid being hurt at all costs. Some experiences in life require you to get hurt. That doesn't make being hurt a g...

But this really does amount to the same thing as harming ghost babies, doesn't it? If the position in time of whoever is harmed by an action is of no ...

Right, I misread that, sorry. This isn't the same scenario, because the person being raped exists beforehand and therefore already has ethical positio...

This seems to be a false dichotomy to me. Conceiving children is not opposed to caring for the people who are already alive.

Precisely. It's a lot more about tribal groups than it is about actual content. If you can make your enemy feel bad, that means you win.

I think the question that needs to be answered first before we can even tackle your specific question is: what ethical standing do future humans have?...

I think the problem here stems from treating physical reality as fundamental. What looks to humans like to very similar patterns of switches might, to...

Iran is Muslim. Also Jared Kushner.

I consistently experience myself as having free will, and others do likewise. Ok, so basically physical evidence? It doesn't make sense to ask for phy...

But you will never arrive at this number, because in order to do so you'd have to take an infinite number of steps. Which is why we call it an infinit...

It's not really about subjectivity in the sense of individual experiences and more about the realisation that experience is something subjects have. B...

Right, so perhaps we can discuss this further, since it's critical to my position. I don't want to ignore the rest of your post, just try to get this ...

Actions seemingly without cause exist on the micro scale. But randomness isn't freedom. But more importantly, why do you conclude that freedom is inco...

Right. I am asking you to do a thought experiment though. Assume that, metaphysically, true freedom is real. How would it manifest physically? But how...

Let's assume an action is, in fact, free. How would you tell from the outside? But if everything is constructed, it makes no sense to call one constru...

See, and this is why I said I'd rather drop it, because there is simply no way I can communicate to you what I mean in a manner that you will find sat...

Of course, it's entirely impossible to identify something "free" in the physical world, using the scientific method. At best the scientific method can...

It's not necessary for traits to confer survival value in order for those traits to develop. They merely need to, in fact, survive. Both Music and Mat...