Hacker News Reader

Comment by imgabe | Hacker News Reader

You are a part of society. If something is bad for society, it will, in the long run, be bad for you.

Not to mention, if living your ideals is an important part of your own utility function, then yeah - it can be best for you even if it comes with other compromises.

Ideals are just long term benefits

If you sacrifice yourself to have an orphan out of an Ideal of selflessness or protection of the weak, the idea of benefits doesn't make sense since you'll never reap those benefits, being dead and all.

If you look at the individual level, with a purely rational 'Homo economicus' rational actor, ideals don't make a lot of sense.

People are genetically programmed to look after children for the long term benefit of the species.

It's so programmed in we think baby lions are cute.

True but will your choice change the course of society? Probably not.

My vote won't change the result of an election but I still vote.

We don’t vote because it’s rational, it’s part of a shared ritual.

By making his choice he is changing society.

Lets say he has no global reach his choice may change opinions of the people around hom. It may even change minds on here.

Your choice definitely won’t change the course if you choose to contribute to the current course.

“Hey, this boat is sinking. Will this one bucket of water I throw out stop it from sinking? No? Guess I’ll just do nothing then. Maybe I’ll pour some more water in. That’s the way things are going you know.“

You may not change the entirety of your civilization, but you can at least be a part of a community that's living up to your ideals.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com