Ask Lemmy

I think that once it’s viable it would be ok to release a virus which genetically modifies all humans to be more empathetic and to think more critically.

It would be a violation of bodily autonomy, which I generally do believe in, but I think it’s necessary for the productive and positive future of humanity on the single planet which we currently inhabit.

(Yes definitions of intelligence vary, and epigenetics and nurture play a role, but we’re talking statistics and a statistical improvement is still an improvement)

If you're a juror and you vote guilty, knowing that the person you're voting guilty for will be executed, if they are later found not guilty, your head should be next on the chopping block.

I am fundamentally against the death penalty. It is not a power the government should ever have.

People accused of crimes deserve an equal process which includes an arrest, trial by jury, and punishment defined by law if convicted. Not mob justice or outsourced punishment.

Religions that seek to dismantle secular democracies should be persecuted, otherwise we're just ending up with a different take on "tolerating the intolerant", and end up like the USA, Hungary, Poland, Russia, et cetera.

Religious freedom should stop at wanting to dismantle secular democracy, just like we don't allow murderous cults, we should also not allow anti-democratic ones.

Copyright is bad and this includes AI breaking copyright laws. Unfortunately people are too emotionally driven to come to a rational position here.

I believe antinatalism is a dire mistake, and the highest thing someone can aspire to be is a parent

I think it’s our moral imperative to correct people, namely friends and family, who blatantly regurgitate false information.

Mostly I am referring to US Conservative talking points (or propaganda).

Many people don’t want to start arguments with people they know and prefer to keep the peace or avoid hot topics, but I think letting those kind of falsehoods go unchallenged and letting people only hear assenting opinions is a small part of what got the US into this situation.

To be clear I am not talking about correcting people on every little thing because that would make for an incredibly insufferable person to be around, but intentionally misleading or false information presented as truths.

A universal right to self. Get the trans / gay community, the raw milkers, the anti vaccers, the druggies and the prochoice crowd all on the same page.

The government should make no law demanding or preventing the alteration of any and all, organs protrusions or growths of organic matter attached to and constituting the body of a sentient person not under the court directed care of another.

Buy local goods, even is it cost more... most people will go for cheapest price, even if you're handing your money to warlords and human trafficking.. same argument every time "There will always be ".

It

One for the world:

I think dog / cat ownership is immoral. There are huge energy and material costs to supporting those animals.

Cats when allowed outside will decimate ecosystems and are literal invasive species. As for dogs, I can't help but feel that they've have been weaponized into a deniable tool for harassing other people.

One for Lemmy:

I think capitalism can be good. I think in an ideal world where everyone's needs are met, there will still be a market and people getting ludicrously wealthy. And I think in that ideal world those ludicrously wealthy people can translate that wealth into political power.

This seems insane for those of us trapped in this present, but I think it is good for there to be a mechanism where understanding some reality that is tied to physical phenomena gives people power.

I think large organizations can get by for a very long time inculcating in their members strange philosophies. If the only path to power is by acquiescing to your superiors and parroting dogma, I think that would be bad.

Of course, conditions in the real world look nothing like those in that ideal world.

Edited away: I think dog / cat ownership makes you a bad person.

I thought it was unnecessarily inflammatory and regret choosing that inflammatory language

Awful crimes necessitate forgiveness even more urgently than mere mistakes. To brag about deeming anything "unforgivable" is amoral and disrespectful of the nature of human soul. Anybody is eligible to redemption.

Want to know something fun about US parents??

Patents don't really protect new inventions. They give people a right to sue for financial damages and there is no criminal force of law (this is a generalization and I am not a lawyer). So courts don't really go "hey, stop using invention ABC, someone else has a patent on it." They just say "hey, that other guy invented it first, give him some money."

Patents (not other forms of IP) are made to be wildly public so people can invent things on top of previous inventions.

Does it always work like that? No. But it's one facet of US federal law that I find interesting, and a little bit hopeful.

People don't choose to be pedophiles. We shouldn't hate them just for existing.

People choose to abuse children, and that should be strongly punished and I think the majority agrees with me on that.

But a non-offending pedophile is someone with a disability and should be treated as such.

That capitalism is good. There is no economic system more efficient at progress

It’s government that’s the failure. It’s Governments responsibility to shape the markets so capitalism benefits society and they have failed miserably

I think peta is probably right to kill all those dogs. Better to be euthanized than to live in a kennel.

Everything is fair in fiction. No matter how sensitive or dark a topic is, fictional settings are the only place where anything should be allowed.

This does not mean that attacking/defaming people is ok, just that "I don't like this" or "this is insensitive" should never be brought up against the existence of a work of fiction.

I'm not sure if "most" people would disagree with that, but there are too many that believe that fiction should be ruled by (subjective) morale and laws, while I believe it should be the place where anything goes.

People should be jailed for violating a DNR order.

I was going to say "Copyright is theft" but I see that's basically OPs take, so I'll settle for 'same'.