“The point of a benign dictatorship is that the dictator can do as he wants.” Yes, that’s the point, for the dictator. How does it benefit you not to have rules saying the benign dictator can’t beat you for no reason?
Also, we don’t know who the dictator is, or how many of them there are.
Then you are a bad person, for wanting other people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit you.
In our analogy here, it would be reasonable to say that you want other people forced to pay taxes, or imprisoned for crimes. That’s the equivalent of having to pay a fee for a website, or being banned for violating policies. It would not be reasonable for you to say that you want the dictator to be able to beat people up for no reason. It is not reasonable for you to say that you want the admin to be pointlessly rude to people.
Then you are a bad person, for wanting other people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit you.
Then you are a bad person, for wanting other people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit you.
What? Firstly, I said “for reasons that weren’t obvious at the time”, not for no reason. Things can benefit me in non-obvious ways.
Even without that, it is sometimes morally laudable to want people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit me. For example, suppose I lived in New Zealand, 1940. I’d like members of the Gestapo to be so badly beaten up they couldn’t do their jobs. This is at least prima facie a good desire to have, but I (living a very long way away, being Aryan so unlikely to be attacked even if one day National Socialism rules the entire world, etc.) wouldn’t benefit from it at all.
It would not be reasonable for you to say that you want the dictator to be able to beat people up for no reason.
If they voluntarily (without duress, etc., etc.) came into the country, understanding that this was the way it worked, and the dictator was generally enlightened, and his actions were more conducive to peace and liberty and prosperity than the relevant alternatives, and so on, I don’t think it’s obviously unreasonable for me to want him to be able to beat people up for reasons not previously disclosed.
People tend to be generally happier and more productive in social environments where reasonably well defined and fairly enforced policies exist, even when these policies have been set unilaterally. That’s why states have written laws, and organizations have written statutes, guidelines, codes of conduct, etc.
How does it benefit you not to have rules saying the benign dictator can’t beat you for no reason?
When one can rely on the benignity, probity, and sound judgement of the dictator, such rules are unnecessary, although publishing general guidelines can be useful to let everyone know where they stand.
Also, we don’t know who the dictator is, or how many of them there are.
The dictator is Eliezer, acting directly or through whoever he delegates any matters to.
“The point of a benign dictatorship is that the dictator can do as he wants.” Yes, that’s the point, for the dictator. How does it benefit you not to have rules saying the benign dictator can’t beat you for no reason?
Also, we don’t know who the dictator is, or how many of them there are.
It allows the dictator to beat up other people that I want beaten up for reasons that weren’t obvious at the time the rules were being written.
Then you are a bad person, for wanting other people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit you.
In our analogy here, it would be reasonable to say that you want other people forced to pay taxes, or imprisoned for crimes. That’s the equivalent of having to pay a fee for a website, or being banned for violating policies. It would not be reasonable for you to say that you want the dictator to be able to beat people up for no reason. It is not reasonable for you to say that you want the admin to be pointlessly rude to people.
What? Firstly, I said “for reasons that weren’t obvious at the time”, not for no reason. Things can benefit me in non-obvious ways.
Even without that, it is sometimes morally laudable to want people beaten up when it doesn’t benefit me. For example, suppose I lived in New Zealand, 1940. I’d like members of the Gestapo to be so badly beaten up they couldn’t do their jobs. This is at least prima facie a good desire to have, but I (living a very long way away, being Aryan so unlikely to be attacked even if one day National Socialism rules the entire world, etc.) wouldn’t benefit from it at all.
If they voluntarily (without duress, etc., etc.) came into the country, understanding that this was the way it worked, and the dictator was generally enlightened, and his actions were more conducive to peace and liberty and prosperity than the relevant alternatives, and so on, I don’t think it’s obviously unreasonable for me to want him to be able to beat people up for reasons not previously disclosed.
“for reasons that weren’t obvious at the time the rules were being written” isn’t “for no reason”
Even dictatorships have laws.
People tend to be generally happier and more productive in social environments where reasonably well defined and fairly enforced policies exist, even when these policies have been set unilaterally.
That’s why states have written laws, and organizations have written statutes, guidelines, codes of conduct, etc.
When one can rely on the benignity, probity, and sound judgement of the dictator, such rules are unnecessary, although publishing general guidelines can be useful to let everyone know where they stand.
The dictator is Eliezer, acting directly or through whoever he delegates any matters to.