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What began as a complaint about HN’s interest in Scott Alexander devolved into a prolonged, hostile, and circular argument about whether certain reproductive choices are a form of eugenics, whether that’s compatible with utilitarianism, and whether utilitarianism itself is morally bankrupt.

Neither side persuades the other, and the thread becomes more about rhetorical sparring than the original topic.

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> There aren't many places online to talk about those things in a certain way without it devolving rapidly.

Now we have an illustration of precisely what that means, more or less entirely in spite of those irritated into furnishing it.

Oh, I understand why rhetoric gets a bad name. No fool ever likes being made to look foolish. That's worth doing, in public, as often as possible, with the kind of person it takes to look utilitarianism full in the face, 'repugnant conclusion' and all, and still embrace it.

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