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It's foolish for the pure utilitarian to leave the human factor out of the equation. Or perhaps his error is to consider dollars to be the ultimate commodity. R
by codefoster 4y ago
It's foolish for the pure utilitarian to leave the human factor out of the equation. Or perhaps his error is to consider dollars to be the ultimate commodity. Really, we as humans work for a much more valuable commodity than money. The fighting of the war in the first place is a human attempt at creating a good story (of a country that actually realizes peace and prosperity). The saving of one man (whether soldier or civilian) is yet another attempt at such a story. It's the human way.
- merely-unlikely 4y agoEveryone in this thread has made good points and I don't disagree with any of them. Nor would I advocate to change policies here. My comment was really a surface level reaction to the number of resources deployed that I wouldn't expect to see living in the city for example. I almost deleted the comment right after posting but it was already generating discussion so I thought I'd leave it. > Or perhaps his error is to consider dollars to be the ultimate commodity. I was thinking (from a utilitarian perspective) about where those dollars could have been deployed to have a larger human benefit. Ie if the operation cost $500k (I really don't have good numbers on this but two military ships + the aircraft are not cheap) how else could you use that $500k to help people in need.
- EarthLaunch 4y agoI liked your original comment, not because I agreed or disagreed with the utilitarian angle, but because it raised the most interesting emotional aspect of this story. Thanks for making it.