Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Both are true though. Many humans have butchered fellow humans. Hitler wasn't uniquely evil in human history, but a part of a long-running tradition


I don't care how human anybody is, killing fellow humans, except to prevent the crime of others (police and military interventions in very specific cases) is not OK. That line cannot be crossed.

That includes death penalty and political revolutions.


I never claimed it was okay. I just said it was human.


    > is not OK
Why not? We kill plenty of other living things. Why not people?


Because you have to draw the line somewhere.

Morale/ethics do change over time, but not killing people has been shown throughout history to be the bare minimum for a decent society, and an accepted standard today. We can discuss and expand on adding more species, kingdoms and domains, but humans are not up for discussion.


    > to be the bare minimum
    > for a decent society
So if a utilitarian-leaning society could show it was improved by killing people, you'd be fine with that?


I would not be fine with that, no, but then, I'm not fine either with killing other apes and other self-reflecting animals ; my standard vs modern society's accepted standard.

However, in that hypothetical case you describe, it might be up for discussion. My point was that by modern standards, killing other humans is not ok, and not up for discussion.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: