This week, I’ve been thinking about the words uttered by Spock, and wonder what would happen if more people considered the Vulcan philosophy.
Stephen Schleicher
Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...
5 Comments
Whilst a society that fails to respect individual rights is ultimately doomed the overall goal should be to provide the greatest good for the greatest number.
I believe it is human nature (for most anyway) to consider the needs of the majority over their own… it is how our species as a whole has propagated for so long. Each generation working harder to provide for the next.
This brings up a similar question i came across reading the Dan Brown novel “Inferno”. If you had the ability would you kill 1/3 of the world’s population today (by releasing a killer man made super virus conveniently named Inferno) in order to save the rest of the species from extinction?
As with most things, it is context dependent. In law, it is better to have a guilty man go free than to err on the side of safety and convict an innocent person. In the case of vaccines, I believe they should be mandatory if you are to attend public schools. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few in that instance. As Rob said, we cannot wholesale give up individual rights, or we get in seriously hot water like we are now with the complete lack of privacy in many areas of our lives in our quest to be safe from all danger. There is no easy answer.
Depends on which vote includes me. Am I part of the many then many. If I am the one then my needs out weighs yours.
Like the old man said the to his nurse: Depends.
More often than not I suppose “the many” would/should be the answer, though not always.
But if in doubt, Rawls and Bentham can help you out.
Rob put it pretty well.