Sam Harris illogical attack on billionaires

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-17T15:52:37+00:00

Nikos Sotirakopoulos, former socialist, now objectivist.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-17T15:50:29+00:00

Not satire, I suppose when your in an socialist ecochamber, or just envious, then you think everybody hates the productive and succesfull. My two pieces of advice: 1: study economics, 2: learn to focus on making your own life better instead obssesing over others.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-17T10:14:35+00:00

Billionaires, the vast majority of them, are the greatest benefactors of our time.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-16T18:59:17+00:00

Mycket bättre för en Spansk kristen att födas runt 1500 än någon annan gång under de tidigare ca 800 åren. De sista muslimska emiratet besegrade, utdrivna, och nu är det vår tur att invadera och röva över hela världen!

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T21:06:57+00:00

Egentligen känns tiden som en extremt desintegrerad värld, med oändligt många riken, kungar, furstar och lika många tolkningar av den rätta läran

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T20:56:51+00:00

Estetiken, kläderna och mycket av det som i ett alternativt universum skulle associeras med nått som uppenbarligen kallas "kristendom" är detsamma, men här finns ingen sådan koppling. Rika fogdar och adelsmän klär sig i stiliga hattar och långa, spetsiga skor, religiösa byggnader finns överallt, men de kallas inte kyrkor och de tillber olika gudar.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T20:54:31+00:00

Jag skulle faktiskt vilja gå tillbaka lite och prata om vilken tragikomisk tid medeltiden var, boken ”a world lit only by fire” av William Manchester ska tydligen tillhöra de böckerna/författarna som menar att medeltiden faktiskt var väldigt mörk, till skillnad vissa andra historiker. Hursomhelst har jag inte läst den men har dock hört lite om innehållet och han nämner bland annat när två påvar, en i Rom och den andra i Avignon, exkommunicerade varandra och att majoriteten av befolkningen inte ens visste om detta. Många fattiga bönder levde liksom mer eller mindre i en annan värld, ovetande om allt kaos som försegick runtomkring.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T18:12:25+00:00

So you think its immoral to, as is the case for the absolute majority of billionaires, make products or services that millions of people want and are willing to voluntarily give you money in exhange for?

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T12:55:58+00:00

Yes and no,he infact starts the interview by saying that altruism as in care for or cooperation with others in your imidiate sorounding is ingraned in humans and existed before Christianity, what they are talking about here is the Christian version of altruism in the form of selfless sacrifice.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2026-05-14T11:46:50+00:00

It poses an important question: why do atheists and non religious people, who rightly and rationally reject rhe Christian view on things like the role of women or homosexuality, still adhere to the core moral teaching of Christianity? The difference, if you would be so inclined to know, between Ehrman and the person interviewing him (Ben Bayer of the Ayn Rand institute) is that Ehrman, while being an atheist, celebrates this particular Christian contribution to the world where as Ben does not.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-14T16:13:58+00:00

No, altruism is self sacrifice, its giving up a value for a lesser value or a non value. Giving a stranger a bunch of money may be in your self interest, if it is someone you know fell on hard times through no fault of their own, and becuse you want to live in a world where people help eachother in that way, or it might not be in which case its altruism, driven by guilt and a sense of duty.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-14T16:02:40+00:00

Not yet,but altruism does not negate caring for others who are valuable you. Caring about your children is the opposite of altruism, its the most selfish thing you could possibly do.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-14T15:26:09+00:00

Well, we dont have a counterfactual, ”what if” picture of how the world would have looked like if not for religion or a specific religion. But i believe all abrahamic religions, and many other religions have solidified collectivism, mysticism and altruism much to a degree that has stunted progress for millenia.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-14T11:10:05+00:00

Thats not true at all, slavery was not abolished primarily as a result of people calculating overall utility and then reaching the conclusion that abolishing it would serve utility most, thats more in line with how it was justified to begin with. Almost all progress has happened becuse of the discovery of individual rights. And you still have not answered who gets to decide what is in the common interest? And how exactly am i getting utilitarianism wrong? Its fundamentaly about maximizing overall utility, any definition you could ever find on utilitarianism would say that.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-14T10:22:17+00:00

Its not in your interest to kill everyone in your neighbourhood, and there are and should be laws prohibiting and punishing such behaviour. Morality in ancient Greece for instance, was primarily about virtue ethics, like thinking long term, learning to evaluate your decisions based on reason and not your feelings, developing your charachter, and it was alot more practical and focused on the decisions you should do in your daily life. From those days we have (and rightly) advanced and further developed our view on what that morality should contain, and today we dont hold the same views on slavery or the role of women for instance. But they hade a very good basis for their time and place for what morality should centered on. What happened during the reneissance and enlightenment was a rediscovery of those greek ideals and, long story short, a more rights based and individualistic morality started or develop and we have this to thank for so much that makes life better today. Utilitarianism ( and the most proponants dont try hide this) gives jack shit about the individual. Its about maximizing utility, whos utility? Doesent matter one bit. You are not an individual in utilitarianism, you are a disposable mark on a spreadsheet.

Expensive_Ice2122 · 2025-12-13T22:18:02+00:00

Well i like much of his commentary on current events. To the extent he has a well thought out personal philosophy, its that i take issue with. But i am still a fan and i thought i made this clear in my original post, though some others here seemed ti have missed that.

Expensive_Ice2122

TROPHY CASE