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| Which carries more ethical weight? |
| But it could have...! |
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83% |
[ 5 ] |
| But it didn't...! |
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16% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 6 |
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 LadyInque
Captain
Joined: May 20, 2005
Member#: 10281
Posts: 2224
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
    
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 Posted:
Sun May 11, 2014 9:25 am Post subject: A philosophical question |
 
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This is an idea I've been kicking around for a while. Y'know when something really bad almost happens, often people will try to assign blame for it. For example: Your spouse leaves the baby gate open and the baby climbs the stairs to the top before you catch him.* Let the games begin.
"He could have fallen to his death!"
"But he didn't!"
"But he could have!"
[Repeat as necessary.]
So I'm asking, in a totally unscientific and non-rigorous way, which position carries more weight? In a fight with no winner, who wins? I put a poll at the top, but I'd be interested in why you think that, so post below.
Personally, I think "But it could have" is the stronger position. It's usually luck that something bad didn't happen, especially a preventable mishap. But then again, nothing ventured... What do you think?
* This is a hypothetical. Seriously. |
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 alien_avatar
Captain
Joined: Oct 28, 2006
Member#: 16007
Posts: 1342
Location: Berlin
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Posted:
Mon May 12, 2014 11:27 am Post subject: |
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I think both "arguments" carry an equal amount of... nothing. They're rather meaningless.
While the "But it didn't...!" option relies on good luck, the "But it could have...!" option kind of assumes bad luck.
There's no middle ground in the could've/didn't argument.
The baby could have fallen and broken its neck.
The baby crawled up the stairs unharmed in record time and won its parents a million dollar prize.
But it could also just have tumbled off a step or two and come away with nothing worse than a bruise and a bit of fright.
Could have is not the same as would have.
Did not is not the same as never will.
That's probably a bit more obvious when the thing in question doesn't involve babies or a third person.
That Austrian guy who jumped out of a plane from impossibly high up a couple of years back could've ended up as a lovely stain on the ground. But he didn't... he made a new world record or something.
Moral of the story? Don't mess with babies. 
_________________
"Welcome to the paranoia club; cheapest fees in the universe and membership lasts forever."
- Peter F. Hamilton, The Evolutionary Void |
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LadyInque
Captain
Joined: May 20, 2005
Member#: 10281
Posts: 2224
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
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 Ghostkeeper
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Jan 03, 2010
Member#: 27774
Posts: 331
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
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Posted:
Sat May 17, 2014 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Alien_avatar makes a good point.
I think you should take a step back and consider what would've been the best option.
In the case of the baby, closing the baby gate would have been the best option, since even though the chance of the baby falling to its death could be only 1% it still outweighs the effort required to close the baby gate.
Take for instance the example of a kid in school not learning for an exam but still getting a sufficient grade. Yes, he could've failed. Perhaps the chance of failing was 40%. But he might be willing to take the risk if that means he can work a little overtime at the convenience store and get his finances back in order (or, realistically, play more video games). It's a consideration of advantages and disadvantages.
The argument of "but it could have" is then valuable to propose an additional disadvantage in this consideration. "But it didn't" less so.
There is also the separate issue of whether it is useful to discuss these things in hindsight. It might be useful for the next time the choice presents itself, but fighting is rarely good by itself.
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Music is not just made of sounds. It is also made of silence. |
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Dutchbat
Captain
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Member#: 22196
Posts: 1875
Location: Roosendaal
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Posted:
Mon May 19, 2014 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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Why would you jump out of a plane?
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Ghostkeeper
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Jan 03, 2010
Member#: 27774
Posts: 331
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
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Posted:
Mon May 19, 2014 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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Perhaps if the new I, Frankenstein was played as in-flight movie?
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Music is not just made of sounds. It is also made of silence. |
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Caliburn
Guest
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Posted:
Tue May 20, 2014 2:21 am Post subject: |
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I loved that movie!
Brainless fun. |
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Luther_III
Commander
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Member#: 10621
Posts: 846
Location: New Orleans
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Posted:
Wed May 21, 2014 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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I think I agree with everything alien said, particularly her first statement:
| alien_avatar wrote: |
I think both "arguments" carry an equal amount of... nothing. They're rather meaningless.
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_________________
"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.... I get most joy in life out of music."
--Albert Einstein |
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LadyInque
Captain
Joined: May 20, 2005
Member#: 10281
Posts: 2224
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
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Posted:
Wed May 21, 2014 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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Of course they're meaningless. Except people keep making them, so there. I was just hoping to get some interesting, if pointless, debate going here.
Sigh. I give up. |
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Dutchbat
Captain
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Member#: 22196
Posts: 1875
Location: Roosendaal
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Posted:
Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:36 am Post subject: |
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That's a little easy.
Like GK said the matter is part of hindsight.
That's like trying to blame one of the parents for a mistake that actually both are responsible for.
Preventing a baby doing lethal actions is in any way the combined effort to make (or as a Malthusian thinker like me, not to make)
If the baby is likely to explore the world by crawling around (or walking unattended) why not use a leash or keep it in a cradle/box
Btw, most babies will survive a fall down the stairs
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plus1
Ensign
Joined: Apr 27, 2015
Member#: 37063
Posts: 46
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Posted:
Fri Aug 07, 2015 7:00 am Post subject: |
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Doesn't the "But it didn't...!" choice limit your actions to merely reacting to whatever happens around you.
And isn't the ability to plan into the future a very unique human feature? If humans had only ever acted AFTER something happened to them, the world would be a different place, wouldn't it?
Therefore, I think that "But it could have...!" carries more weight. |
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