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danbruc • today at 3:00 PM • 5 replies • view on HN

I expect everyone to behave nicely even in the absence of laws. The reason that I am not killing people left and right is not because it is illegal to so but because it is immoral. The law is a last resort to disincentivize certain behaviors or hold you responsible after the fact, it is not what should exclusively guide anyone's behavior.


Replies

jvanderbot • today at 3:28 PM

And, carry that forward, what do you expect to happen to people who do not act according to your definition of nice? You either accept they are different, or try to prohibit the activity.

Jumping from "money making via tax breaks" to "murder" is quite a jump, also. These are along a spectrum of choices.

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ryandrake • today at 4:09 PM

But companies are not part of "everyone". Companies are amoral. They have no concept of morality, only legality. If doing X produces Y profit and is legal, they will do X. If doing X produces Y profit, but is illegal and the fine times the probability of getting caught is Z, then they will do X if Y > Z. Shame and morals have nothing to do with the equation.

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lazide • today at 3:20 PM

Sounds like you’re lazy?

‘Everyone should be good because it’s the right thing to do, and making them not be murderous assholes is exhausting’.

Which hey, that would be nice, but it’s clearly not the case - as demonstrated by the non-zero murder rate all the time.

parineum • today at 3:19 PM

> The reason that I am not killing people left and right is not because it is illegal to so but because it is immoral.

And if it wasn't illegal, some immoral entity would outcompete you by killing all of their rivals (including you).

The whole point of the law is to standardize morals so immoral actors don't gain advantage.

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cheonic4040 • today at 3:18 PM

> The reason that I am not killing people left and right is not because it is illegal to so but because it is immoral.

Evolution and natural selection does not care about morality.

Why should humans?

“because humans are better than apes” …? Weak argument.

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