[Recording Start]
Rick Rosner: In addition to the big question that’s up for grabs, there’s the difference between what a conscious being wants and what a deceased conscious being wants, which is essentially nothing. A dead conscious being feels no regrets because there’s no trace of that being left to feel any regrets or pain. We don’t apply this logic to ourselves, though. The idea that death is inconsequential because it’s the end of the game doesn’t sit well with us. We strive to keep people alive and make murder illegal, but we apply a different logic to animals, especially those raised for meat. We think it’s acceptable to treat chickens, hogs, and cows poorly because we only need to meet the minimum requirements for their existence and maybe slaughter them humanely. Once they’re dead, they’re dead, and to us, it’s no big deal. So, we’re deeply hypocritical in this regard.
Another huge area where the golden rule is valuable is that consciousness does not provide an unbiased view of reality. This lack of bias is most apparent in areas of sex. Evolution has driven us to be motivated by sex in ways that cause us to behave irrationally, take in information, and misjudge information in ways that are contrary to our best individual interests, assuming those interests involve living as long as possible in the healthiest way possible. Sex often sabotages this, showing how our consciousness has evolved to undermine us in service to the species.
So, the whole area of ethics, stemming from the golden rule, is full of landmines. That’s pretty much the end. What do you think?
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I agree that the golden rule needs a revamp. In addition to the information golden rule we developed several years ago, it needs an adaptation that can more adequately encompass these complexities. It wouldn’t be called the golden rule anymore because it would surpass the simplicity of reciprocity proposed by the original golden rule.
Rosner: I would argue that the golden rule is a good starting point. Most religions haven’t missed it completely.
Jacobsen: Yes, and I think a college seminar titled ‘The Golden Rule’ could be quite insightful. It would start with the golden rule and then critically examine everything that underpins it. The seminar would address the issues you and I have raised, exploring a more robust rule or set of principles that could emerge from the golden rule. Despite its limitations, the golden rule remains quite useful in many situations, just as Newton’s universal gravitation equation is still applicable in certain contexts.
[Recording End]
Authors
Rick Rosner
American Television Writer
Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Founder, In-Sight Publishing
In-Sight Publishing
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://www.rickrosner.org.
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Rick Rosner 