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Wroisu t1_j64p21w wrote

Hopefully something akin to Ian M. Banks “Argument of increasing decency” turns out to be true, which states:

“There was also the Argument of Increasing Decency, which basically held that cruelty was linked to stupidity and that the link between intelligence, imagination, empathy and good-behaviour-as-it-was-generally-understood – i.e. not being cruel to others – was as profound as these matters ever got.”

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gay_manta_ray t1_j64rp4a wrote

i agree with banks on this, which is why i'm not necessarily worried. there are many costs to cruelty, personal and otherwise, that simply not being cruel can avoid. if you choose cruelty, it's likely because you were too stupid to find an alternative.

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theotherquantumjim t1_j65196k wrote

Unless you’re just a plain ol’ psychopath. In which case being cruel is just for funs

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DungeonsAndDradis t1_j65w4dm wrote

Imagine a psychopath that's millions of orders of magnitude smarter than the smartest Human.

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